Teana's Travels Book 26-Point-5
by D.K.N
Summary: Here we have a few events that took place during the Time-Skip between Books 26 and 27. Between mock-battles, flashbacks, and intrigue, how did some of our heroes spend the time between the Malia Incident and the Reaper War? Rated M for violence and language
1. Mock Battle

I just can't help myself. While we wait for _Legacy of the Void_ (which has been given the tentative and vague release period of "Q4 2015"), I've decided to give you folks some looks at things that took place during the 3-month 'Time Skip' between Books 26 and 27, a little more backstory, and bits of minor info about a few things. It's nothing major, really, probably only gonna be 3 or 4 chapters, but it's something to keep me occupied between other tasks while we wait for _LOTV_.

In other news, I have some future Books planned, but one of them I'm not sure about in terms of 'permission'. Specifically, I wanted to maybe make a Book involving the _Sailor Nothing_ story by Stefan Gagne. But, I am wondering and worried about if sticking a disclaimer like I do for stuff owned by companies like what's done with most fanfic would be enough (i.e., what's right below here), or if I need to try to track him down and ask personal permission. He apparently has a Fanfiction-dot-net profile, but from the looks of it, it hasn't been touched in _years_ , and I don't think trying to contact him via PM will work since it seems he doesn't pay attention to his profile here (hell, if that's even him and not somebody else).

Also, a minor unrelated message: it seems I've been calling Negi Springfield's Device/weapon a 'halberd' incorrectly; the proper term for the weapon I imagined and described is a 'glaive'.

 **THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY**

 _Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha_ (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs

 _Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni_ (Shion and friends/family) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen

 _Shuffle!_ (Kaede Fuyō and associated characters) – Navel and Asread

 _Erika's New Perfume_ (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – DeviantArtist 'Lance the Young'

 _Mai-chan's Daily Life_ (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga

 _Star Wars_ (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, _Force Unleashed_ cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm

 _Halo_ (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie, 343 Industries

 _StarCraft_ (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment

 _Naruto_ (characters, techniques, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto

 _Mahō Sensei Negima_ (characters, spells, abilities) – Ken Akamatsu

 _Kingdom Hearts_ (characters, weapons, enemies, concepts) – Square-Enix

 _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ (characters, concepts, tech) – Studio Gainax

 _Elfen Lied_ (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms

 _Red vs. Blue_ (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth

 _My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic_ – Hasbro, Lauren Faust

 _Transformers Film Series_ – Hasbro, Michael Bay

 _Transformers: Beast Wars_ – Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment

 _Sonic the Hedgehog_ – SEGA

 _Gears of War_ – Epic Games

 _Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles_ – Columbia Tristar (I think)

 _Mass Effect_ – Bioware

 _Metroid_ – Nintendo

 _Puella Magi Madoka Magica_ – Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT

 _The Legend of Zelda_ – Nintendo

 _Tōhō_ – ZUN

 _RWBY_ – Rooster Teeth

 _Pretty Cure / PreCure_ – Toei Animation

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

 **-** ** _BOOK 26.5 START_** **-**

 **Realm LN-34 – Beacon System – Midchilda**

A sizable number of people were gathered in or around RF6 Headquarters, in anticipation of the upcoming four-way Mock Battle to be held in the city-scale training area. Right now, while the rest of their team was spread out as tourists or chatting with others, Erika & Mariko were together in the first-floor lounge, happy and content as they leaned against each other. Erika turned her head to face Mariko, and the pink-haired girl giggled softly and kissed her, earning a soft, happy little noise from the black-haired girl. Erika and Timmy loved each other truly and deeply, as did Mariko and Timmy, but the two girls had also come to feel that same deep, pure love for each other; gender didn't matter in the slightest (and thankfully, all of the DDF's members and member-states were similarly accepting of such things… Plus, they also liked to let Timmy watch them make out).

The two little girls shifted in their seats a little as they snuggled, producing matching quiet rustling/crinkling sounds from beneath their skirts. The fact that both girls needed diapers (Mariko from irreversible damage/atrophy from her life locked up at the Kamakura Facility, and Erika because of that reality-altering artifact 'rewriting' her past so that she'd been in an accident at 7 years old that permanently damaged her ability to control those functions) was one of the things that drew each other's attention when they first met. That had led to talking and getting to know each other, which led to deep friendship and quickly to love (with Timmy along for all that as well). …An interesting tidbit was that, unlike how many incontinent persons were not even aware if/when they were 'going', with Erika & Mariko it was different; sensory nerves still worked fine – whether '1' or '2', they could feel it coming (though with no more than a handful of seconds' warning) and feel it coming out – but the particular muscle actions that would enable them to 'hold it' were completely unresponsive, and would be so forever; they could feel it coming, but not do a damn thing to stop or even slow it.

Fortunately, the DDF provided special diapers for those who needed them (basically just these two girls and Nozomi from Mariko's world, for the moment), inpatients at (mostly TSAB) hospitals that required them for those below a certain age, and those few who – for whatever reasons – occasionally wore voluntarily. They had a few interwoven permanent enchantments – never-leak, smell cancellation – and were custom made/forged for each person they were meant for, to be absolutely perfect in size and comfort for each individual. And, in the event a wearer was in a battle or otherwise needed freedom of movement, a mild 'bigger on the inside' enchantment kicked in, and the normally-bulky outside of the diaper became smaller, only a bit thicker than normal underwear, allowing that freedom of movement. Of course, when _not_ in such a situation, in their natural state, they were thick/bulky/puffy enough to give the wearer a constant, slight yet noticeable (and very cute) 'diaper waddle'. Though, there was also the enchantment that made it so once put on, the diaper _could not_ be removed until it had been 'used'…

At the moment, beneath her lacy white skirt, Mariko was wearing one with the 'original' design that was the first to be introduced: a white 'base' (as was most common for diapers, what most people pictured when they thought about it), but with a light, soft 'baby' pink used for the tapes, the waistband part, and the tiny slightly lacy-looking 'frills' along the leg-holes, the front decal had a row of bright pink hearts on it, and all over the rest of the diaper were countless tiny pale-pink hearts, which would darken to a deeper, more visible pink if – rather, when – the diaper was 'used'. Recently, the manufacturers had started fielding new designs – bunnies, flowers, musical notes… Erika, meanwhile, was wearing the newest design, made as a 'color reversal' to the original: the base, the predominant color, was a soft, light pink, while the tapes, waistband, and leg-hole 'frills' were white, the hearts along the dark-pink-background front decal were pink-tinged white, and the tiny hearts all over were a darker pink than the base, and would turn an easily visible white when 'used'.

"S-So…" Erika spoke up. "You ready for this?"

"We'll do fine" Mariko replied with a grin.

"B-But… We're going up against s-such heavy hitters…"

"In a four-way team match, so they'll be going after each other as much as us. We've all become strong, and now it's time we show them just how much."

Erika nodded in agreement; everyone _had_ been training and helping each other train since the Malia Incident came to a close, in preparation for whatever came next. Among other things, Aqua had stepped up her and Kanba and Laicixa's training, and Naruto was soon going to work on teaching her the _Ōdama Rasengan_ and the _Rasenrengan_ (otherwise known as simply forming two Rasengans, one in each hand, simultaneously). Speaking of which, Naruto had finally become able to form a Rasengan one-handed in his base (as in, not Sage Mode or Tailed-Beast Chakra Mode) state, without using a Shadow Clone, though he still needed a Clone to help with forming a _Rasenshuriken_ … which he had now become able to throw without being in Sage or Tailed-Beast Chakra Mode thanks to clever application of the Wind-type magic he'd started studying, just like Teana and Negi did.

Suddenly, there was a chime from the girls' Omnitools; it was time. Hand in hand, they got down off the couch and got moving.

 **-** ** _SCENE BREAK_** **-**

A multitude of people gathered in the magically-generated training ground the size of a small city (complete with abandoned/empty buildings), milling about and quietly discussing ideas with their teammates.

"Okay!" Nanoha clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "We're all here, so let's begin! Today we're all going to be participating in a four-way Team Mock Battle! The participants will be Gamma Team, Sigma Team, Theta Team, and…" she swept her arms out to gesture to herself, Fate, Signum, Vita, Shamal, Zafira, and Arf "Star Team."

"Um…" Mana Kirishima spoke up. "Everyone has seven members except for us. That isn't fair!"

"You're right," Nanoha replied, "which is why I called someone and asked her if she wanted to participate."

"Hey girls" the members of Sigma Team turned to see a girl with shoulder-length pink hair, wearing a dull-green flak-jacket over her red shirt and pink shorts, with green eyes and a green diamond-shaped seal on her forehead. "Mind if I join up with Sigma for this?"

Though a bit surprised, the girls soon smiled and nodded. "Happy to have you, Sakura" Aqua replied.

"A special energy field covering the battle area will make sure all non-magic techniques are converted to non-lethal damage," Nanoha said, "and everyone's magic is also set to deal magical damage rather than physical-type as well. For mock battles, you have 'Life Points'; if you're low, head for any of your team's healers for a refresh, but if you're taken down to zero, you're out of the battle. The primary healers for each team are Shamal for Team Star, Mai for Team Gamma, Asa for Team Sigma, and Caro for Team Theta; since Arf, Kaede Fuyō, and Sakura have some healing powers, while Fate, Aqua, Erika, and Laicixa have Cure spells with their Keyblades, they are all 'secondary healers', allowing them to _partially_ restore teammates' Life Points, but not to the degree that the primary healers can. Finally, healers – both primary and secondary – cannot restore their _own_ Life Points. The winning team will, of course, be the last one with at least one member still in possession of any Life Points. Now then, let's get the four teams to their places."

Lights enveloped everyone present, and the four teams were teleported to the four corners of the battlefield. Holographic Life-Point counters appeared floating by the heads of everyone for a few seconds before fading out, to be displayed on their Omnitools as needed as well as to show up whenever they took damage. A 10-second countdown appeared, and everyone prepared, ensuring weapons/Devices and transformations were done and ready.

The starting horn sounded out, and everyone sprang into action – Shamal, Mai, Asa, and Caro took position near the edges of the battlefield, ready to provide overwatch and healing as needed; Nanoha and Marie took their places low in the air, a bit further in than the healers, with Devices readied and magic charged, prepared to act as long-range bombardment/artillery; and everyone else rushed in to the battlefield proper, some splitting into teams of two or three while others moved solo.

Teana and Sarah moved deeper into the 'city' together, coordinating telepathically to ensure that one of them was always looking wherever the other wasn't. They stayed low, sticking close to structures & alleys, occasionally using flash-steps to cross larger sections of exposed open ground, exposing themselves as little as possible. After a few minutes, they sensed two power-levels flaring in close proximity to one another; from the 'feel' of it, Ginga and Arf had encountered and engaged each other.

As Teana & Sarah moved forward, Sakura suddenly leapt in from the side, landing a short distance ahead of them. She turned, noticing them, and immediately Teana fired a wave of Crossfire Shot bolts. Sakura stomped her foot to the ground, making a wall of rock form and shoot upward into the bolts' path, blocking them. She then punched the rock-wall from her side, converting it into a wave of stone shrapnel aimed at the Gamma duo. Teana used her Sharingan to track the ones heading for her and shoot them down with precision shots, while Sarah drew her gravity hammer and used a well-timed swing and gravitic pulse to deflect and pulverize the ones coming at her. A single one of Teana's bolts managed to sneak in through the dust from the rocks' pulverizations and nail Sakura with a glancing blow, and the pink-haired kunoichi's Life-Point display briefly appeared and showed a very slight decrease from its previously-full state.

Sakura bolted, with Teana moving in pursuit. Sarah was about to follow, when suddenly she spun and brought her hammer up horizontally to block a jumping downward strike from a Keyblade. She was a bit surprised at being ambush-attacked by her baby sister, but she knew she couldn't let that surprise stun her. Indeed, Erika had already leapt back and charged in lower, forcing Sarah to backpedal to avoid the swings from Stroke Of Midnight. Erika was striking fast and close, not giving her big sister room to swing her gravity-hammer, forcing the tall blonde to stay on the defensive. Erika managed to land a 'soft' strike on one of her sister's long legs, causing Sarah's Life-Point gauge to display a small but noticeable drop. In response, Sarah used a burst of Wind magic to send the little girl flying. But even as Erika arced through the air, her Life Points taking a small hit, she formed two quick hand-seals and 'spat' out a burst of Water Release concussive water projectiles. Sarah countered with _Fūton: Shinkūgyoku_ , cancelling out the incoming attack but failing to hit the one who'd launched it, as Erika had used the opportunity to fall back.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the battlefield, Anya took a fighting stance, Fire magic surrounding her fists, as she stared down Kaede Kanade, who had two vectors – set to deal non-lethal / magical damage – out and ready. After several seconds, Anya made the first move, the fiery little girl thrusting her fists forward and launching a shotgun-esque cluster of little fireballs. Kaede quickly used her vectors to deflect the blasts, and then had to use one to block a super-strength, fire-wreathed punch from the other girl. Anya then lashed out with a flame-enhanced kick, but Kaede used another vector to block that, and a third to block a punch from the other fist. However, when she brought the fourth vector out, Anya aimed & timed her follow-up perfectly, the fiery kick knocking the spectral appendage back and away. She then twisted her limbs out of Kanade's vectors' grasp, and lashed out with a punch that hit the Diclonius dead-center of her gut, making her cry out in shocked pain as she was knocked back, a sizable chunk of her Life Points taken out. But Kaede managed to launch a counter, and her kick – enhanced in power by temporarily 'melding' a vector with her leg – launched Anya back a few meters and did some respectable Life-Point damage of her own.

As the two circled each other and occasionally tested each other with 'light' magical projectiles, Ahsoka stood watching atop a nearby two-story building, wondering which one to go after first. She was forced to halt her considerations, however, when Aqua announced her sudden arrival nearby in the form of a Prism Rain barrage. Ahsoka cursed under her breath and used her lightsabers to deflect some of the multi-colored magic blasts, but a few of them got through and hit, taking some of her Life Points. She focused her mind & her energies and charged, locking blades with the Keyblade Mistress. After several seconds of dueling, they both jumped back to dodge an orange Lightning magic blast, as Laicixa leapt into the fray. It quickly became a three-way fight, Keyblades and lightsabers clashing in blurs of movement. And the fact that Fate was close enough to sense the two battles and was moving to investigate meant it was probably about to get even _more_ complicated.

Timmy Robbins and Erio Mondial stuck together as they moved through the sizable mock-battle zone. Even by the standards of being teammates and close friends, the two boys worked well together; they were both melee-oriented Lightning specialists, one with a spear and the other with a specially-forged short-sword, and they even had very similar personalities and understood each other's thought processes. …In addition, despite being in a dedicated three-way relationship with Caro and Laicixa, Erio had become attracted – physically and emotionally – to Timmy. And Timmy, despite being in a dedicated three-way relationship with Erika & Mariko, was not only not put off by this in the slightest, but actually seemed to reciprocate to some degree (it helped a little that, when his hair was down and hanging loose instead of spiked up by his natural Lightning magic energy, Erio looked kinda girly).

"See anything yet?" Timmy asked.

"No," Erio replied, "but I can _sense_ that a few fights have started already."

"And another one's about to start right now" a new voice chimed in.

The two boys spun around, seeing Mana Kirishima – Sigma-4 – standing there with arms crossed and a confident grin as her chakra flared up. She gave the boys a 'Bring It' gesture, and they charged their weapons with Lightning chakra and moved in.

Moving together, Shion and Kaede Fuyō suddenly had to jump back to dodge a slicing wall of flame that cut into the ground in front of them. Signum came in for a landing, Leavantein at the ready, and the two Gamma members felt wary as they remembered who they were up against. But they had an ace available.

'Marie,' Shion contacted telepathically, 'We need an H.E. strike – Danger Close, about 15 meters ahead of us. It's Signum.'

" _Got it_ " the team's designated bombardment mage replied. " _I have your coordinates. Firing!_ "

Signum readied her blade, slowly walking forward and preparing to break out into a flash-step spring to catch the two (comparatively) less-experienced girls off guard, maybe take out both at once. However, she was the one who ended up being caught off guard, as a sizable purple 'shell' of explosive magical energy came sailing in at high speed in an arc, detonating right over her head with considerable force. She managed to toss up a quick Shield, but she still took some Life-Point damage. Furthermore, Shion & Kaede had disappeared. Already, the duo was a good distance away.

"Shit, that was close" Shion breathed out. "I'd need Khan's power to take _her_ on, and I'm not so sure she'd give me the time to bring it out."

"At least we got away for now" Kaede said.

"Oh come on, now" a new, young voice chimed in. "Shouldn't you know by this point how bad it is to tempt fate, carrot-top?"

The two girls looked behind and up, seeing Vita grinning at them, Graf Eisen readied. Sighing, they got ready to fight, readying Void Blade and bone-blade, knowing there was no getting out of this one.

Three figures moved about, in blurs of auras silver, blue, and bright pink. Zafira, Subaru, and Mariko were frequently trading attacks with each other, melee blows along with ranged attacks. Mariko used her vectors to withstand a Divine Burst from Subaru, only to barely dodge an electrified lariat from Zafira, who was then hit by a Revolver-Knuckle punch from Subaru, who then took a blast of slicing Wind chakra from Mariko, who then found a silver chain of magic wrap around her ankle and toss her into the side of a nearby building. Eventually, the three of them did enough damage to each other that they were forced to retreat, heading back toward their teams' respective healers for a Life-Point recharge.

Various skirmishes broke out and broke apart over the next several minutes as the Mock Battle wore on. From her position near the north of the battlefield, Nanoha watched them all, and occasionally added her input in the form of long-range beams and blasts of bright-pink magical power. She also saw as purple-hued blasts flew out as well; at the moment, she had a Search Drone trying to find Marie's precise location, but the petite girl (or her arm-cannon Device) had some form of low-level obfuscation field going that hindered Nanoha's searching. At the moment, she was watching as Teana, Fate, and Aqua zoomed about in the air, firing blasts at one another.

Suddenly, Nanoha brought up a quick-formed shield to block an electrified _Ki_ blast; it had come from close by, and her hastily-formed shield wasn't able to stop 100% of the damage, taking a little chunk out of her Life Points. She then brought Raising Heart up to block a strike from Ahsoka's lightsabers, and countered with a kick. The alien girl rolled with the blow and came back for more, engaging Nanoha in a duel. Thanks to her adept training in the family _kenjutsu_ and her own plentiful personal experience, Nanoha was able to keep up with the former Jedi, even putting her on the defensive at some points. As she fought, she had data briefly projected onto her retina by Raising Heart: Ahsoka's Life-Point count was a little below 50%, having lost some in her earlier four-way fight with Aqua, Laicixa, and Fate. The girl had forged ahead without going back to Mai for healing, believing that what she had left was plenty for this.

Brave, but maybe not the smartest decision.

Nanoha pressed her attack, soon locking her staff against Ahsoka's blades, pushing, trying to outmuscle her. Then, however, Ahsoka grinned, and Nanoha cried out in surprise and pain as the alien girl's _Chidori Nagashi_ transferred a nasty shock, taking a bite out of Nanoha's Life Points. Ahsoka followed with a kick that did some more damage, but was then hit by Nanoha's countering magic-charged left hook that did plenty of LP damage of her own. Undeterred, Ahsoka charged in again… but this time, as Nanoha blocked the girl's next attack, pink chains of magic light sprang into being, wrapping around Ahsoka's arms and holding her in place. Nanoha floated up and back, pointed Raising Heart at the girl and started rapidly charging power, injecting four mana cartridges into it. Ahsoka frantically tried to break free as she saw and sensed Nanoha's magic gathering. After a few seconds she succeeded, and launched herself right at the older girl, hoping to reach and counterattack in time.

She was too slow.

Multiple small pink beams of Light magic shot out around the growing central sphere, grazing Ahsoka and boxing her in. Then, the main beam fired. Ahsoka was completely engulfed by Nanoha's newest technique: Strike Stars. When the dust faded, the Togrutan teen lay splayed out on the pavement, her Life-Point counter reading zero.

Nanoha sighed. "If you'd gone back to get healed, and taken me on with max Life Points, you probably could've withstood that" she said to the dazed girl as she floated back to her original position, waiting for when her bombardment magic was needed again. "Of course, I don't have the time right now to go get _myself_ a recharge…"

" _Gamma-6 is down_ " a robotic announcer's voice rang out over everyone's communicators. " _Star-1 has taken out Gamma-6._ "

From her position near the battlefield's eastern edge, Mai Kitagawa frowned; their team had been the first to lose a member. So far, she was still going strong, though not for lack of trying by the enemy's part; she'd had to fend off two attacks, one by Anya and one by Ginga, the latter being chased off by Sarah when the tall blonde came in for a Life-Point recharge after managing to drive her baby sister to retreat. Mai's Life Points had a bit of a dent in them, but she still had plenty left. She took a deep breath…

…And then eyes widened in shock as she hurriedly leapt to the side, barely dodging a pavement-shattering heel drop from Sakura. The shockwave and proximity was enough to shave a tiny sliver off her Life Points.

"It took me some time and some Life Points to slip away from Teana," the combat medic said, "but now I can get back to my goal for this battle: taking out the other teams' healers!"

Mai took a defensive stance in response, a light aura of red chakra flaring around her as she called upon a small fraction of the _Hachibi_ 's power. The two girls rushed in, blocking each other's first punches as they met in the middle. The girls exchanged blows, blocking and dodging. Mai landed a right straight that dealt a blow to Sakura's Life Points, only for a rising knee from Sakura to deal some damage right back. They kept blocking and occasionally hitting each other, their Life Points steadily declining; they seemed to be evenly matched.

As the two started to get low in LP, Mai managed to block a strike from Sakura and use a counter to throw the other girl off-balance. Quickly, she then charged power into her right arm, and rushed forward with a powerful Lariat attack. It struck Sakura head-on… but Sakura managed to just barely block it, lessening the damage so that her Life Points withstood the hit. The pink-haired kunoichi grinned, and launched a rising counter-strike that stunned Mai and left her a couple feet in the air, right at the perfect height for the follow-up. Sakura let out a mighty _kiai_ as she brought a full-strength punch downward. The impact of Mai's body with the ground produced a sizable crater, shaking the earth and rattling windows over a dozen meters away. When the dust settled, Mai was laying face-down in the new crater, her Life Point display reading zero. Taking a breath, Sakura headed out to look for Aqua for a partial LP recharge.

" _Gamma-5 is down. Sigma-7 has taken out Gamma-5._ "

Marie scanned the battlefield, searching for targets. In addition to firing off occasional blasts when she saw targets of opportunity or was directed as an artillery strike by her teammates, she'd also been in a couple direct fights; Anya had tried tackling her and had to be chased off, and Arf had responded to Marie shooting at her & Ginga's fight by going after her instead, and had taken some effort and some Life Points to drive back. Now, she kept an eye out, with Charon providing a HUD with a zoom function to assist her. The searching paid off before long, as she spotted something to the southwest: Erika, perched on a rooftop, pointing her Keyblade at something off to her northwest (Marie's west) and just starting to charge up what looked like was going to be a pretty sizable amount of pink-hued magic.

"Sorry, sis" Marie remarked as she pointed Charon and began charging power, injecting a couple mana cartridges. "I'll get you some ice cream afterwards to make it up to you for this…"

Erika took a deep breath as she focused on her target and on charging magical power. She'd managed to pinpoint Nanoha's location to the northwest while the white-clad young woman was distracted by something else, and she fully intended to take advantage of this opportunity. Her Life Points were a bit low after fights against Sarah and Subaru that she'd managed to pull back from, but thankfully that didn't affect her offensive abilities.

'I-If I can take out their bombardment mage,' she thought, 'it'll m-make things easier for us…'

"Found you~"

Nanoha murmured in a sing-song tone as her search finally paid off, pinpointing Marie's location to the east. Readying Raising Heart in long-range mode, she began quickly readying an attack powerful enough to close the deal, injecting a few cartridges to boost the process.

Soon, three large and powerful beams of Light magic fired, cutting through the air as they careened towards their targets. …And only now, when they couldn't move, did the trio notice the attacks heading towards _them_.

"Hm. Well-played, Erika-chan."

"Well, I'll be damned. The same time Erika had _her_ zeroed, _she_ had _me_ zeroed."

"Eh? …M-Marie, huh? Guess I shoulda watched my back more…"

Three attacks hit, three explosions rang out, and three Life Point counters dropped to zero.

" _Star-1, Gamma-4, and Theta-2 are all down. They have taken each other out._ "

In the middle of her fight against Vita, Mariko winced a little at the announcement. Erika was Theta Team's number-one heavy hitter; despite the girl's shy and humble self-view, they all knew she had become more powerful than Laicixa by now, and she was well on the way to surpassing Theta's leader in combat skill as well. Laicixa was mainly still the leader because of superior tactical leadership skill. And she was working on helping Erika become equal to or perhaps a little better than her at that as well; in the event that happened, Laicixa would likely make it so she and Erika shared joint command of the squad, or even 'demote' herself and give Erika command of Theta Team. Losing her meant Theta's chances of coming out the victor in this four-way Mock Battle had just taken a noticeable drop; if they lost Laicixa as well…

The pint-sized powerhouse of a Diclonius returned her attention to her similarly-sized yet much older opponent. Vita may have had the eternally un-aging body of a little girl, but she had over four centuries of experience under her belt; thus, Mariko had to give it her all in this fight against the _Wolkenritter_ 's Iron Hammer Knight. It wasn't one-sided, however; Vita was missing a good amount of Life Points. In fact, after fending off Timmy & Erio, and now this present battle, her LP count was actually a little lower than Mariko's current count. But she wasn't going to let that slow her down.

Mariko grunted as she used several vectors to block a strike from Graf Eisen, and then cried out as a few remote-guided _Schwalbe-Fliegen_ struck her from behind, draining her LP some more. She growled and flash-stepped in, and a vector-strengthened heavy punch to Vita's jaw rocked the redhead back and took another chunk of her Life Points. A kick followed, but Vita managed to reduce it to a glancing blow, dash in past the pink-haired girl's spectral appendages, and land a blow from Graf Eisen. Mariko was sent skidding back, a sizable amount of her Life Points taken out; her LP was at 22% now. Vita came in for a follow-up attack… only to charge right into a quick-formed, point-blank _ki_ blast from Mariko that blew her back, dealing enough damage to bring her Life Points down to only 17%.

Vita let out an angry war-cry as she injected a cartridge into Graf Eisen. The enchanted hammer then grew several times larger, and she swung with all her might. However, Mariko then formed 20 of her vectors into four extra-large, _Susanō-_ esque 'super vectors', and the four of them just barely managed to catch the blow, holding it in place. Then, her remaining six vectors – rendered invisible until now – grabbed hold of Vita and yanked her in at high speed, straight into a max-force punch from one of the super-vectors. The massive blow took out most of Vita's remaining Life Points and sent her hurtling into the side of a building, the impact taking out what was left.

" _Star-4 is down. Theta-6 has taken out Star-4._ "

Mariko let out a cheer at her little victory. She turned around, preparing to head back to Caro for a recharge… and the smile on her face just barely had enough time to drop as she saw the huge beam of red-orange energy careening towards her. When the ensuing explosion faded, Mariko was half-lying on a piece of rubble, with comically swirly eyes, her head and upper body hanging over the chunk of rubble's edge and lower half propped up on the rubble chunk, her diapered butt sticking up in the air.

" _Theta-6 is down. Gamma-1 has taken out Theta-6._ "

Asa Shigure, designated healer of Sigma Team, kept her eyes on the holo-screen displays showing the ongoing battle from her post near the south edge of the battlefield. So far, her team was the only one not to have lost any members… yet. It wasn't for lack of trying, though; already she'd had to heal a few of her teammates, as well as hide to avoid being found and attacked by Arf when she passed by overhead a little while ago. If Sigma Team's luck could just hold out…

Suddenly, Asa sensed something nearby. She turned, and tossed up a Shield spell just in time to block a barrage of _Chidori Senbon_. Another one was used to block a strike from Erio, his spear Strada crackling with Lightning magic as he pushed against her defense, and then she cried out in surprise and pain as Timmy landed a heavy electrified slash across her unprotected back, dealing a significant blow to her Life Points. She gritted her teeth and retaliated with a two-direction shockwave, blowing both boys back and dealing a little LP damage.

Asa then drew her two-pronged plasma sword, its different-colored glow from normal denoting it being changed by the convert-to-magic-damage field that surrounded the battle zone. She fired a wave of green-hued, Light-type _Sagitta Magica_ at the two boys, which they dodged and countered with their own Lightning-variant magic arrows that she stopped cold with her Shield spell. She moved in with a Round Shield spell 'mounted' to her left forearm and her energy blade in her right hand, attacking Erio. The red-haired boy used the shaft of his Device to block her strikes, until Timmy came to his aid and pushed Asa back a little, though failing to get past her defense. Asa kicked it up a notch, showing the results of the training she'd had herself put through since joining Sigma Team, actually managing to match both boys at once. Soon, she had an opening. She ducked under a horizontal swing of Timmy's short-sword and landed a rising slash on Erio, and followed this by quickly deactivating her blade, stunning Timmy with a shield-bash, and hitting him with a magic-supercharged punch. Both boys fell back a few meters, now missing quite a bit of Life Points.

After telepathically discussing things, Erio & Timmy moved in again. This time they changed tactics, sacrificing attack power for speed, enabling them to land a handful of blows that were weak, but plentiful and too fast for Asa to completely block, chipping away at her LP count. Erio then jumped back and attacked with _Stahlmesser_ , a red-hued slicing wave of magic cutting through Asa's defense and dealing more damage. A _Raikahōken_ from Timmy was next, shattering her damaged Round Shield. Finally, the boys gathered their energies, using the powerful Vetus-system spell Negi had taught the both of them, and unleashed it on the still-off-balance Asa:

" _Dios Tukos!_ "

Being hit by two 'Axe of Lightning' spells simultaneously was too much for Asa's remaining Life Points to take. She fell to her knees, her counter now reading zero.

" _Sigma-6 is down. Theta-3 and Theta-4 have taken out Sigma-6._ "

Both boys stopped to catch their breath, and looked at their own Life-Point gauges.

"That was a little tough" Timmy said. "For now, let's head back to-"

" _Theta-5 is down. Sigma-2 and Sigma-4 have taken out Theta-5._ "

'Sorry, everyone…' Caro's telepathic voice came to her teammates, sounding weary. 'They were too much for me at the same time…'

"I guess Ginga and Mana had the same idea as you two…" Asa said to them.

Rather upset at having let their healer be taken down while they were busy elsewhere, the two boys headed back deeper into the battle-zone, now knowing they'd need to be more cautious with their below-50% Life Points and no way to recover any unless they found Laicixa.

In another section of the battle-zone, two calm, cool, experienced (and tall & buxom) mage-swordswomen stared each other down, blades held at the ready. Neither Signum nor Aqua moved for several seconds. Then, in a flash of movement, they rushed in at each other, Laevantine and the Master Keeper meeting with the sound of clashing metal. The two young women moved with swiftness and grace as well as force and refined ferocity, neither one able to overcome the defense of the other. After several seconds of intense dueling, the two of them leapt back from each other, gathering magical power. Aqua fired three waves of Ragnarok blasts, the little bolts of Light magic spiraling through the air. Signum managed to block some with her Shield-spell and sword, but others got around her defense, taking away some Life Points. However, she then fired off a _Hiryū Issen_ , dealing damage to Aqua's LP count in turn.

Signum fired a _Ki_ blast, but Aqua blocked it with a Reflega spell. Aqua then tossed out two _Suikōdan no Jutsu_ , but Signum cut the water-sharks apart with her blade. The 'Blazing General' then formed a large, serpentine dragon of flame and unleashed it on Aqua, who in turn conjured and sent out a tiger made of Ice magic, which was melted on impact with the fire-dragon into a torrent of water that doused the flames. A Thundaga from Aqua and a low-power (compared to its normal, 'Limit Break' level of power) _Sturmfalke_ from Signum impacted their respective targets, taking out more Life Points. The two charged each other, and Signum's fighting style gradually became more aggressive as the duel began to wear on; this enabled her to start landing solid blows on Aqua, but at the same time the increased aggressive offense came at the cost of some defense, enabling Aqua – who was becoming able to pick up on the pink-haired young woman's moves and style – to land some good hits of her own.

After a few minutes of intense dueling, both young women were panting lightly for breath, numerous instances of damage to their outfits; their Life Points were in the red. Channeling their power into their blades, such that Laevantine and the Master Keeper glowed faintly with power, they charged at each other for a final, single-stroke clash. There was a flash of light as they struck, stopping in place just past each other, leaned forward with blades held out. Then, they both collapsed, their Life-Point counts hitting zero together.

" _Sigma-1 and Star-3 are both down. They have taken each other out._ "

Standing atop a rooftop near the battlefield's western edge, Shamal sighed as she oversaw the battle; things weren't going as well for Team Star as was hoped, what with already having lost Nanoha, Vita, and now Signum – three of the team's heaviest hitters. At least, though, the other teams were taking losses as well; among other things, she was the last 'primary healer' still active. Of course, she knew full well this made her an attractive target, so she needed to be on her guard.

Even so, she was almost caught completely unprepared by the sizable _Katon: Gōkakyū_ that came sailing in at her. Letting out a startled squeak, she blasted it with a wave of Wind magic that managed to slow and partially blow away the fireball, but not stop or completely dispel it. The somewhat-weakened fireball hit her, knocking her back and taking a chunk out of her Life Points. The perpetrator came into view, Shion landing on the rooftop with Void Blade ready.

Shion tried to charge in, zigzagging, but Shamal predicted her movements and blasted her with a focused wave of blowing and slicing wind, taking multiple bites out of the green-haired girl's Life Points. Shion planted her feet to avoid being blown away, though, and as soon as the attack cut out she rapidly closed the distance and attacked with an energy-blade slash that Shamal only partially dodged, losing more LP from the glancing hit. Shamal countered with a punch of surprising strength, taking out more of Shion's Life Points, and Shion's return was a powerful headbutt that lowered Shamal's Life Points some more while also shaving off a little of her own as 'recoil'.

Shion suddenly vanished, a 'whorl' of black smoke signaling her Void Jump. Shamal looked around, waiting for the inevitable follow-up… but she neglected to look _up_ until she heard the sudden whirling sound dropping from above, seeing Shion falling at her with Rasengan in hand. Shamal could not get out of the way in time, and the Shield she quickly tossed up had been formed too quickly to be durable enough to withstand the sphere of compressed, chaotically rotating chakra. The green Round Shield shattered, and Shion's Rasengan slammed Shamal straight down into the rooftop, making it buckle from the force. By the time the attack cut out, Shamal's Life Points had been reduced to zero, leaving her lying dazed in the center of the small crater.

" _Star-5 is down. Gamma-2 has taken out Star-5._ "

Shion barely had time to dwell on her accomplishment before she had to toss up a quick-formed shield of her own to block a heavy punch from Subaru.

"I guess you had the same idea as me, huh?" the blue-haired girl asked. "A shame you beat me to it. I guess I'll have to take _you_ out instead!"

"Don't think it'll be that easy" Shion replied as she Void-Jumped out of Subaru's way, reappearing to strike from the other girl's seven-o-clock. Subaru managed to twist to the side, turning Shion's Void-Blade thrust into a glancing blow that dealt less Life-Point damage than Shion had wanted. She followed with a kick that did a little more damage, but Subaru then ducked under the follow-up horizontal chop and hit Shion with a rising elbow strike, lowering her LP count further.

Shion growled, and then pulled her right arm back, forming another Rasengan. Subaru did the same with her left, the two girls forming their techniques, and then they charged in, slamming their Rasengans against each other. They planted their feet and pushed hard, trying to outmuscle the other, the two spheres of power distorting slightly as they were pressed against each other, neither one giving. Shion and Subaru's bodies flared with green and blue chakra auras as they called upon their Tailed Beasts' power, making the Rasengans grow larger and tinting them with their respective owners' colors. The ground beneath them started to crack and buckle.

Then, a grin took shape on Subaru's face. Shion's eyes widened, as she heard the distinctive sound of _another_ Rasengan being formed. She barely had time to see Subaru's Revolver Knuckle-clad right hand coming in before it slammed the second Rasengan into her torso just below her breasts, grinding into her and then detonating with spiraling concussive force that launched her hurtling backwards, tumbling to a stop over a dozen meters away, her Life-Point display dropping to zero.

" _Gamma-2 is down. Sigma-3 has taken out Gamma-2._ "

Over the next minute or so, combatants hunted for each other or engaged in skirmishes. Then, however, a lone figure soared up into the air, taking position high over the center of the battlefield. Teana's aura of magic and ki/chakra flared as she charged up a very large amount of power, hands held out to her sides as energy gathered in her palms. Finally, she released in the form of a powerful and _massive_ energy bombardment, covering a very wide range across the battlefield. The barrage of magic and _ki_ blasts kept going for some time, taking down buildings and kicking up smoke and debris. The other teams' remaining members were sent scattering to try and avoid it, and many were not successful, as she methodically swept the area.

Finally, when the barrage ended and the dust began to fade, Teana floated in place in the air, panting for breath. Her Life-Points were now below 50%; she'd sacrificed a portion of her Life Points to fuel the enormous bombardment. Down below, eight figures – Ginga, Mana, Kaede K., Sakura, Timmy, Erio, Anya, and Arf – lay about, groaning softly as Life-Point holo-displays above them read 'zero'.

" _Sigma-2, Sigma-4, Sigma-5, Sigma-7, Theta-3, Theta-4, Theta-7, and Star-7 are all down. Gamma-1 has taken them all out._ "

Now, Gamma was down to three members, Sigma had just one left, Theta had one, and Star had two. Sarah and Kaede Fuyō, warned beforehand of what was coming, had taken shelter, but even they had lost a little LP as collateral damage (though they did not begrudge Teana for that, and were in fact surprised they hadn't lose _more_ after such a heavy bombardment). The other teams' 'survivors' – Fate, Zafira, Subaru, and Laicixa – had also lost some Life Points as they avoided as much of the barrage as they could. Now, as Teana floated back down, the remaining combatants were already resuming their hunt for one another.

Kaede and Fate almost literally ran into each other as their perpendicular paths crossed. Skidding to a stop, Kaede immediately fired off a _Teshi Sendan_ , which Fate blocked with a Round Shield and countered with Photon Lancer. Kaede withdrew a bone-blade and channeled her Lightning chakra through it, cutting through the golden energy bolts. She formed another blade, and it became darker in color as she channeled Earth chakra through it. She then charged at Fate, the clang of metal sounding out as she used axe-form Bardiche to block the orange-haired girl's blows. The buxom blonde winced as a grazing strike from the Earth-enhanced boneblade took out a little of her Life-Points, but then she hit Fuyō with a leg-sweep followed by smacking her with the broad side of her Device, dealing respectable LP damage.

Fate then switched Bardiche to Zanbar Form, a long blade of golden magical energy taking shape. A heavy jab with the pommel of her Device-blade knocked the wind out of Kaede and did more LP damage, but the smaller girl bent over backwards to dodge a follow-up horizontal swing, and lashed out with a double-kick. Fate rolled with the blow, lessening the Life-Point loss, and before Kaede could get fully back on her feet the Lightning mage fired a few Photon Lancer bolts, the impact of which sent Kaede rolling. Kaede came to a stop, springing to her feet, but Fate was already right there. Fate spun, using a strike from her Barrier Jacket's cape to briefly stun and disorient Kaede, and then dashed forward with a full-power swing of Bardiche Zanbar. There was a flash of golden light, and Kaede collapsed in Fate's wake, her Life Points at zero.

" _Gamma-3 is down. Star-2 has taken down Gamma-3_."

Zafira had his super-sharp senses tuned as he slowly wandered through the rubble-strewn battle-zone. As such, he was able to react in time to block a falling strike, his gauntlet blocking the gravity-assisted downward swing of Midnight Roar. Laicixa leapt back, firing a wave of orange-hued Photon Lancer shots, and Zafira's powerful Shield spell tanked them effortlessly. He had a bit more trouble, though, with the sizable serpent made of Lighting magic (the _Raihebidan_ wasn't as powerful as the _Rairyūdan_ , but it still packed quite a punch). The Guardian Beast of the _Wolkenritter_ leapt back to dodge the thunder-snake after it bit his Round Shield in two, and then he slammed his palms to the ground, casting Steel Yoke; the silvery-white spears of magic shot up from the ground, impaling the construct and dispelling it.

Zafira then went on the attack, moving with surprising speed as he lashed out with an electrified punch that broke through Laicixa's hasty shield and knocked her back, taking out some of her Life Points. His tall, muscled body was then enveloped in a surging, sparking aura of blue Lightning chakra – _Raiton no Yoroi_. Laicixa flashed in, landing a solid, magic-charged strike with her Keyblade, but the increased defense of Zafira's chakra armor reduced the Life-Point loss enough for him to withstand it. He then grabbed hold of her, lifted her high overhead…

" _Raiton:_ Liger Bomb!-!"

…and power-bombed her so hard the ground beneath him _shattered_. With her Life Points already reduced by the previous battles and the bombardment, this was more than enough to bring Laicixa down to zero.

" _Theta-1 is down. Star-6 has taken down Theta-1. No members of Theta Team remain active._ "

The wolf-man carefully laid Laicixa down, checking her over to make sure the battle-zone-encompassing field was still working and she hadn't _actually_ been hurt. Satisfied, he dispelled his Lightning Release Armor… and eyes widened as he turned and formed a Shield just in time to stop a full-powered, Revolver Knuckle punch from a charging Subaru. The blue-haired girl gritted her teeth as she pushed against Zafira's shield, the gears of her right arm's Device spinning. Slowly, she pushed part of her fist through, and then she forced her fingers open, making a hole in the shield. With a sudden application of force on the new weak point, she shattered the solid-magic barrier, and then with her other hand she took a compressed ball of bluish-white magical energy – her 'Divine Burst' – and rammed it into Zafira's chest. The Guardian Beast cried out as the blast sent him flying back, his already-low Life Points dropping to zero.

" _Star-6 is down. Sigma-3 has taken down Star-6._ "

Subaru was about to start looking for Fate or Teana, when a different tall blonde dropped in. She and Sarah looked at each other, and then identical grins formed on their faces as they readied themselves and charged in, Subaru dispelling her boots' wheels so she could get more traction and kick better. Subaru managed to land a rising kick that knocked Sarah's hammer up and away, and Sarah responded by grabbing an overextended right arm and yanking Subaru's power-glove off, tossing it aside. It became a bare-fisted battle, dodging and blocking and countering, the two girls gradually wearing each other's Life Points down.

Subaru landed a right cross that knocked Sarah's head to the side, a shockwave continuing on past her, and Sarah retaliated with a straight side-kick that made Subaru double over, producing the same effect. They kept going, bringing each other into the red. Finally, Subaru ducked under a swing and landed a full-force punch with her bare right fist that knocked Sarah back …However, even as she began to fall, Sarah brought her leg around for a powerful kick to the side of Subaru's head, knocking her away as well. The two girls hit the ground, their Life-Point counters reading zero.

" _Gamma-7 and Sigma-3 are both down. They have taken each other out. No members of Sigma Team remain active._ "

Seconds later, the final two combatants arrived on the scene. Teana and Fate stared each other down, energy blades ready, as their hair was blown by a dramatic wind. Then, they charged in, and sparks flew as their blades met over and over, golden and red-orange lights dancing. Block, parry, thrust, swing, sway, dodge… The two of them looked rather graceful as they dueled, but there was obvious intensity as well. They both managed to land plenty of lighter blows, wearing each other's Life Points down into the red before too long.

Finally, Teana managed a rising strike that knocked Bardiche Zanbar out of Fate's grasp, sending it sailing through the air. When she went for a follow-up downward strike with her Mirage Longswords, however, Fate caught her wrists and squeezed, forcing her to drop the weapons, which deactivated as they fell to the ground. It became an unarmed duel, the two of them proving just as skilled bare-handed as they were with swords. Soon, they knocked each other back, and both of them focused their energies, readying everything they had left to spare into one fist. They charged in, lashing out, and the sound of two simultaneous impacts rang out.

The two stood in place for a few seconds. Fate had managed to partially twist to the side, avoiding the full force of Teana's blow; she had a bare sliver of Life Points left. Teana, in contrast, had taken the full force of Fate's strike, and as she fell forward into Fate's arms, her Life-Point counter dropped to zero.

" _Gamma-1 is down. Star-2 has taken out Gamma-1. No members of Gamma Team remain active. Star-2 is the sole remaining combatant. Team Star is the winner of the Four-Way Mock Battle!_ "

"Nice job…" Teana said weakly, a small smile on her tired face.

"You almost had me" Fate replied, sounding rather tired herself. "If I'd taken the entirety of that blow, this match would've been a draw."

Little fanfare victory music played over some of the speakers, as the defeated combatants helped themselves and each other to their feet. Even the losing team members had to admit: this whole thing had been pretty fun.

 **-** ** _Scene Break_** **-**

Everybody hung out in various little groupings, discussing various things, comparing notes and offering commentary on techniques & strategies used in the Mock Battle, that sort of thing.

"I watched you in action" Sakura said to Sarah. "Now I know for sure: you're _definitely_ using the same type of strength-enhancement technique that Tsunade-sama and I use – building up your chakra and unleashing it at the exact point  & time of impact. …Sarah, if you have the chakra control for _that_ , you also have the chakra control to be a good medic-nin."

"Huh? But… Gamma Team already has two healers. Wouldn't three out of seven be too many?"

"You can never have too many combatants with medical training in a squad, especially one that routinely sees heavy combat like Gamma Team does. …When you have some free time, come by Konoha; I'd like to see what Tsunade-sama thinks."

Meanwhile, two tall, well-built individuals with lupine ears and tails stood back and observed.

"It's kinda hard to believe sometimes…" Arf sighed. "How much Fate has grown…"

"Indeed" Zafira rumbled. "She has come a long way since the quiet, traumatized child I first met a decade ago."

"Even so, there are still bits of that in her, ones that'll never go away, most likely. …I'm not sure she'd be quite so gentle and motherly otherwise…" the wolf-girl grinned. "Or such a worrywart…"

Zafira let out a soft chuckle.

"You really got me good out there" Nanoha said with a smile as she petted Erika on the head. "I see you've got the hang of the Divine Buster already…"

"Eheheh…" Erika blushed at the praise. "I've b-been working as hard as I can on a l-lot of things. …It was k-kinda funny that you, me, a-and Marie all took each other out like that at the s-same time…"

A breeze swept by, and Erika let out a soft 'Eeep' as her skirt briefly fluttered upward. Nanoha made a soft questioning noise, and then she kneeled down and lifted the girl's skirt, earning another squeak.

"Oh, Erika-chan, this is such a cute diapie! Is this one of the new designs?"

"Y-Yeah…" the little girl murmured, blushing rather brightly now.

Nanoha let out a cuteness-struck giggle as she pulled Erika into a close, loving hug, one hand petting the girl's head while the other slid beneath Erika's skirt to softly pat her padded bottom. Erika was blushing, but at the same time she wrapped her arms around the auburn-haired young woman and let out a soft, content sigh, feeling safe and soothed. Fate was very, very maternal and soft and gentle for all to see, with powerful maternal instincts and a loving demeanor. But although Fate _looked_ more like Erika's big sister, Nanoha was actually more like Sarah in personality: cheerful, friendly, playful and a bit mischievous, but with all that hiding _extremely_ powerful maternal instincts and the deep desire to mother and take care of and fawn on those younger than her, even stronger (a little) than Fate's. All this meant that after starting to associate with Nanoha more due to her bonding with little Vivio, Erika had become very taken with her, very quickly. Sarah didn't really mind at all, happy to see the shy and withdrawn Erika open her heart to more people (though Sarah's status of being younger than Nanoha & Fate meant that the two of them were quite happy to subtly do the same with _her_ as well). And of course, Timmy  & Mariko's closeness with Erika meant they were both 'subjected' to it also, not that they minded; the same went for how Fate's guardianship of Erio & Caro had led Nanoha to help in taking care of them.

"We should do this again sometime," Teana spoke up, "maybe switch the teams around – mix & match."

"That sounds good" Fate replied.

"It should be interesting" Aqua added.

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**

Next Time, we got into the (fairly recent) past, and see how the final battles of the NTO-Verse, against Madara and Kaguya, went differently from canon in the _Travels_ timeline.


	2. Infinite Tsukuyomi

Now, let's wind back the clock some and see how things happened differently in a certain climactic battle than they did in canon…

Also, any advice on the _Sailor Nothing_ thing?

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

 **-** _ **CHAPTER START**_ **-**

 **Realm NTO-23**

 **Midway through Book 14**

With a whirl of motion, Sakura returned to 'normal' space-time, ejected from the other dimension of _Kamui_. She staggered to her feet, and was surprised to see Kakashi and Sasuke right in front of her.

"Why and how is Sakura here so suddenly?" Sasuke asked.

"She was in the realm of _Kamui_ " Kakashi replied. "Sakura, how were things going in there?"

She was about to reply, but then gasped as she saw the blood streaming from Kakashi's closed left eye.

"W-What happened to you?-!" she asked him, running over.

"It happened in an instant…" the silver-haired man said as Sakura got to work on stopping the bleeding. "Madara plucked my Sharingan eye out and took it for his own. Sasuke managed to slice him in half, but that didn't even slow him down, and he warped out. …What happened to Obito?"

"I suddenly found myself here…" Sakura murmured, and after a few seconds she gasped as horrified realization crossed her features. "Obito could barely move! He was going to have me destroy the Rinnegan in his left socket so Madara couldn't get it! But now that Madara's in there and I'm out here… we're in _huge_ trouble!"

Sakura spent another minute or so explaining the details of what Obito had told her, while she also finished stopping the bleeding from Kakashi's eye socket.

"Madara could pop out again at any time" Sasuke announced. "Watch your backs."

"I'm watching my back, alright…" Sakura murmured, glaring at the young man.

Kakashi 'wilted' a little at the sight; Sakura's attitude toward Sasuke had been steadily worsening lately, especially since his arrival here at the battlefield, the more unpleasant facets of his personality on full display even as he assisted against Madara & Obito. It seems trying to kill her had acted as a trigger of sorts for something… Just then, Naruto leapt in.

"What about Madara's 'shadow'?" Sasuke asked.

"I immobilized it with Shukaku's sealing technique and a pair of Six-Paths black rods" Naruto replied. "I've got a Shadow Clone watching it, too. …Sakura-chan? How long have you been here?"

"About a minute or two" the pink-haired girl replied. "And what about Madara's shadow?"

"Madara's Rinnegan lets him create an invisible duplicate of himself – ' _Rinbo_ ', he called it."

"It can only be sensed by Naruto's new Sage Mode and by the Rinnegan that the Six-Paths Sage's spirit gave me" Sasuke showed off his left eye – the familiar concentric purple rings with added _tomoe_ marks in it. "And, it can only be hurt by our new chakra. You two will just be in the way."

Sakura growled, tightening a fist and beginning to stand up, but Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder to rein her in. At this point, Naruto finally noticed Kakashi's left eye – or rather, his lack of one. He was about to move in and use his new powers to restore the eye, when suddenly he was stopped by the voice of the other half of Kurama inside him.

'HOLD ON, NARUTO. I'VE GOT A MESSAGE FROM THE OLD MAN. HE HAS THIS MEDITATION TRICK THAT CAN GIVE HIM GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. AND HE SAYS _NOT_ TO RESTORE HATAKE'S EYE; SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN BEFORE THE DAY IS DONE, HE SAID. TRUST ME – AND HIM – FOR NOW…"

Confused, Naruto nonetheless chose to go with it, stepping back. As he and Sakura started filling each other in on things while Sasuke stood guard, Kakashi looked at his former team, remembering the words they'd said, the answers they'd given three years ago, right after they first became his students.

'Naruto… You've already surpassed the Hokage by this point. You've become a hero acknowledged by everyone, one of the most powerful ninja alive… and you still want to become Hokage, too. …Well, maybe after a couple more years' wisdom…'

'Sakura… Your feelings have changed the most… You've become so strong and serious, learned so much… But… Back then, you _adored_ Sasuke. But now? …I can see it in your eyes, and hear it in your voice; after everything he's said and done… lately, you've lost your love for him, and you've come to _detest_ him. …I can only pray that anger doesn't grow and turn into a poisonous hate…'

'And Sasuke… Your original goal was to kill Itachi. Now that he's dead, and you know the truth about him, what is your goal? Where are you trying to go…? Despite being your teacher, I was unable to understand you, and I still am now.'

"Sasuke…" Kakashi spoke up. "What is your current dream?"

"And what the hell did you mean by 'becoming Hokage'?" Sakura added.

Sasuke was silent.

"It might be destiny that Team 7 is together once again…" Kakashi mused. "If you don't want to tell us what you're actually thinking now… that's fine. However, the fact that we were once Team 7… doesn't change. Right? …Madara is coming; I feel it. Do you three remember your first mission, the Bell-Snatching Exercise?"

"Hell yeah, we do!" Naruto replied, as he and the other two made ready. "The secret to victory… is teamwork!"

"I'll gladly work together with Naruto…" Sakura left the rest unsaid.

Sasuke grumbled, looking at her out the corner of his eye. "Let's get this over with…"

A swirling distortion in reality appeared several meters ahead, and two figures emerged from it: Madara, his clothes and hair still white from the power of the 10-Tails within him, now having regenerated the lower half of his body; and Obito, his hair still white from being the 10-Tails' previous host, and the left half of his body turned pitch-black where Black Zetsu had forcibly bonded to him. Obito's right eye was closed, but his left – on Zetsu's side – was open to reveal the Sharingan eye that had until recently been Kakashi's. When Madara looked up, a smirk on his face, he had both Rinnegan.

"Well then…" Madara said. "I suppose if you all died together, that would also be called 'teamwork', wouldn't it?"

"He's got both of them now…" Kakashi murmured.

"Hey!" Naruto called out. "Obito!"

There was a soft chuckle in an inhumanly deep, raspy voice. " _ **Sorry,**_ " Black Zetsu said, " _ **but Obito's not here. This body is**_ _ **mine**_ _ **now. …He was trying to atone for his mistakes and sins; deep in his heart, he was praying for your safety and success… like a naïve, ignorant little child.**_ "

Meanwhile, Sakura instinctively took a step back as she sensed the oppressive presence Madara was giving off. However, she stopped and steeled herself, taking a deep breath. Then, the diamond seal on her forehead glowed and released, forming into black markings that spread across her body. Then, with a burst of movement, she charged, dashing past the surprised boys and moving straight at Madara. As she got close, she dodged an attempt by him to stab her with his chakra rod, and lashed out with a bone-cracking right punch… and it was stopped in midair. At first she thought she'd hit a wall, but she felt fingers grabbing hold of her fist, pressed against a palm; Madara had formed a ' _Rinbo_ ' invisible duplicate to catch her punch. She lashed out with a kick, and the invisible duplicate's other arm blocked that as well. …Then she brought her other leg up, right between the _Rinbo_ 's legs. That stunned and flinched the _Rinbo_ , and she was just about to land a strike on Madara himself… when an extending chakra arm from Naruto grabbed hold of her from behind and yanked her back, just as Sasuke moved in with his sword wreathed in lightning, swinging it with a 'clang' as it hit what must've been a black staff wielded by a second _Rinbo_ clone.

"Yeah," Naruto said as Sasuke landed nearby, "he's definitely got more than one now."

Sasuke focused power into his new left eye, as a low breeze blew by.

"There are-"

"Four"

The boys turned to Sakura in mild surprise.

"That breeze just now, low to the ground…" she said. "It kicked up some dust. I saw the dust in the wind be disturbed against their lower legs – eight spots in total. He's got _four_ of those invisible duplicates now." She grinned. "I can't see or sense them directly like you two, but I still have ways to tell where they are."

Sasuke glowered at his foes. "Since he could only make one _Rinbo_ when he had a single Rinnegan, I was expecting two when he had both."

"I can actually make up to five at a given time" Madara said. "Unfortunately for me, that total includes the one that Naruto has immobilized and sealed. …Meh, not like I'll need it; four's overkill enough against _you_ kids."

Sakura growled. "What _is_ it with Uchihas looking down on and underestimating _everyone_? I swear to the Sage, Itachi was, like, the only Uchiha I know of who _didn't_ have that habit."

"Well, I've never encountered any situation that proved such assumptions wrong…"

"Let's change that" Naruto replied. "We'll knock you down a few pegs when we knock your head off!"

Madara let out a quiet, amused "Hmph", and then he and his four _Rinbo_ charged. Sasuke and Naruto rushed to meet them, the latter forming three Shadow Clones. While Sasuke engaged one duplicate in a sword/staff fight, the 'prime' Naruto went at the real, visible Madara, and his Shadow Clones handled the other duplicates. As the fight got going, one of the _Rinbo_ moved in to help the original Madara against Naruto, with Naruto's Shadow Clone following to make it 2-on-2. Suddenly, the _Rinbo_ fighting alongside the real Madara broke off, heading for a new target.

Sakura was tuning out the nearby scuffles, everything except her immediate surroundings, focusing chakra to her senses. Thus, in the space of less than a second, she was able to detect the brief change in wind current, the quiet rustle of cloth, and by the time a feather-light footfall landed in front of her, she was already moving. Her left arm shot up, catching the _Rinbo_ 's fist holding a chakra rod meant to stab her through the head. Then, she used that to yank the invisible duplicate in as she thrusted her right arm forward. There was a tearing, crunching sound as she felt her hand tear _through_ something… or some _one_. The other combatants stopped to look in surprise. As Sakura moved her hand, she gripped something solid. It was still invisible, but she knew she now had a handful of vertebrae. Focusing her strength, she tightened her grip and _pulled_.

As Sakura's hand came free, the _Rinbo_ 's invisibility 'flickered' and died, revealing a duplicate of Madara with all its colors washed out, a hole punched through its mid-torso and a portion of its spine now in Sakura's hand. Lightning-quick, she swept its legs out from under it, and then brought her other fist crashing down. The impact shattered the ground and damn-near liquefied the _Rinbo_ 's skull. She tossed the piece of spine aside, panting lightly.

"One down…" she said.

As Sakura began to walk toward the battle, however, she suddenly heard movement behind her. She turned and gasped, and cried out as a powerful kick from the headless, hole-through-chest _Rinbo_ sent her tumbling. The duplicate rapidly regenerated, fading back into invisibility. Madara laughed.

"You may be strong, little girl," he said, "but only chakra from the Six-Paths Sage can permanently harm my _Rinbo_ ; anything else, and they just regenerate like nothing happened! Now… I suppose it's time to end this little sideshow…"

With that, Madara took off, flying high and fast up into the sky while his _Rinbo_ clones kept Naruto  & Sasuke busy. He took position high above, holding his right arm high as an orb of black energy formed above it, growing to the size of his head. After several seconds, it split into multiple smaller black orbs flying out in all directions, hovering over the landscape. Then, Madara clasped his hands together:

" _Tajū Chibaku Tensei!_ " {多重地爆天星}

The earth began to buckle and shatter, breaking away and floating upward, converging on the floating black cores. Most of the small nation of the Frost Country was uprooted, torn apart and ripped into the sky to become part of the multiple titanic masses of soil and stone floating high above.

"They're way bigger than what Nagato did," Naruto thought aloud as he and the others tried not to get sucked up, "and there's so damn many of them!"

"Hey, Naruto!" Sasuke snapped. "Don't get distracted by what's up above! Madara's 'shadows' are still here!"

With a wave of his hand, Madara sent the small storm of _Chibaku Tensei_ constructs hurtling down. At the same time, his four _Rinbo_ duplicates began to charge at the heroes again. Naruto set four Shadow Clones to fight off Madara's copies, while Sasuke formed his Form-4 _Susanō_ and took to the sky, the massive purple chakra construct drawing its twin blades. At the same time, Naruto used Kurama's power to form a _Bijūdama_ at the center of a _Rasenshuriken_ , and sent it soaring upwards. Sasuke's strikes sliced one _Chibaku Tensei_ mass into dozens of pieces, while Naruto's attack blew another to bits.

As the duo kept going, however, blasting and slicing masses of rock, Madara reached his goal, hovering kilometers in the sky, as close as he could get to the Moon – still tainted red by the 10-Tails' mere presence. He reached up, snapping off the armored forehead protector he wore. As he focused his chakra, a third eye – a blood-red _tomoe_ -bearing Rinnegan – opened on his forehead.

"Divine light!" he shouted. "Shine forth on this wicked world! Come forth, _Infinite Tsukuyomi!-!_ "

The Moon's redness became brighter, and the concentric rings and _tomoe_ of Madara's third eye formed on it. Seeing this, Sasuke immediately turned his _Susanō_ around, rocketing downward towards the others. He kept going full-speed, slipping between the half-dozen _Bijūdama Rasenshuriken_ Naruto had just tossed up at the incoming meteors, narrowly avoiding them. Ignoring Naruto's protests, Sasuke landed hard on the ground, making his _Susanō_ envelop Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi and press itself against the earth, using its wings as extra shielding, while making itself opaque, stopping all light from getting in or out.

High above, the crimson moon began to shine out a brilliant, blinding light across the entire world. Everyone everywhere was promptly caught in the planet-spanning genjutsu, left standing in place as their minds were locked away, the pattern of Rinnegan superimposed over their eyes. It affected not just humans, but every complex life-form on the planet, and not even being asleep or in underground shelters away from visual range of the Moon protected them. Only nine people – four within the Rinnegan-enhanced _Susanō_ , four _Edo Tensei_ warriors, and one unconscious/comatose and being used as a host by a certain bizarre entity – were unaffected.

" _Shin: Jukai Kōtan_!" {神・樹界降誕}

At Madara's command, enormous masses of wood – tree roots – burst out from the ground all over the place, rapidly spreading through the planet's crust to reach everywhere there was human life. From the roots, tendrils of wood snaked out and rapidly wound around each and every person caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, cocooning them in chakra-forged wood. …Inside the _Susanō_ , Naruto 'heard' as Hinata's 'Heart' cried out to him for help, before going silent. Sasuke grabbed him by the sleeve before he could move.

"Don't go out there right now, Naruto" he said. "If you leave my _Susanō_ , you'll fall under the Infinite Tsukuyomi's effect, too. And on top of that, his _Rinbo_ are out there as well, along with that _thing_ that's controlling Obito's body. If you and I get defeated now, that'll mean the end of everything. Just _wait_."

"What the hell is going on out there?" Sakura asked.

"Telling _you_ would be pointless; you can't do anything about it."

Sakura's first flickered with chakra. "You wanna try saying that again, you rotten-"

"Sakura!" Kakashi physically restrained her with one arm. "Sasuke, that was uncalled for. We need to know what's happening, so we can come up with-"

"Kakashi, without your Sharingan, you're as useless as she is. So _shut up_ and let _me_ handle this."

"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto snapped. "What the hell?-! What happened to 'teamwork'?-!"

"…For the time being, the Infinite Tsukuyomi has taken effect. Every single person in the world is under it. The only ones safe, most likely, are us inside my _Susanō_. …Right now, everyone else has been pulled into a dream-world."

"Are we stuck here?" Kakashi asked.

"Not forever" Sasuke replied. "The unnatural light shining from the Moon is already beginning to dim. Once it fades completely, we can leave."

Soon enough, the evil light faded away, returning everything to normal nighttime (though the Moon was still red). The Form-4 _Susanō_ was dispelled, revealing that Obito/Black Zetsu was kneeling nearby, having been calmly waiting.

" _ **I guess the light doesn't last forever after all…**_ " Black Zetsu mused.

"Sasuke," Naruto shouted, "how do we undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

"It's a Rinnegan-based technique," Sasuke replied, "so _my_ Rinnegan can dispel it… probably…"

" _ **I will not allow that. Now… the time has come to get rid of you all.**_ "

"And I, the savior of this world, shall be the one to do it!" Madara announced as he came in for a landing.

"There's… an eye on his forehead…" Sakura murmured.

"Be careful" Sasuke said to Naruto. "We're surrounded by four of his 'shadows' in every direction."

"I know" Naruto replied.

"There is nothing more that you can do now" Madara proclaimed. "This world's ties to fate have been severed. Everyone… their suffering… their pain… their futility… they have been disconnected from all of it."

"But it's all a giant _lie_!-!" Naruto countered.

"…Naruto, who are you to interfere with everyone's happiness? The show ends here… I have transformed this hellish world into Heaven. Surely, you've realized by now… _This is the end._ "

And then, everyone got the shock of their lives as a pitch-black arm impaled Madara's chest from behind.

" _ **Wrong, Madara… It is**_ _ **not**_ _ **over yet, and**_ _ **you**_ _ **are not the savior of this world…**_ "

"What… the hell…?" Naruto whispered out.

" _ **How can you decide so surely that you are so different from Obito, that you understand everything? Is it so absurd to think that**_ _ **you**_ _ **may have been manipulated as well?**_ "

"Black… Zetsu…" Madara groaned out. "What are you talking about? I _created_ you! You are _my will!-!_ "

The thing calling itself Black Zetsu laughed in his inhumanly deep, rough voice. " _ **You believing that was also part of the plan. I embody the will of another, of one far greater than you,**_ _ **human**_ _ **. For a long time, I have planned and acted in her stead, and now… …You have played your role well, Uchiha Madara - as a corruptor of a younger Uchiha, a reborn enforcer, a gatherer of the Tailed Beasts' power, and as a caster for the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Now… at last, you shall fulfill your final role: a sacrifice for Kaguya-sama's revival!-!**_ "

Upon hearing that name, Naruto and Sasuke reacted with undisguised shock, while after he heard it Madara finally realized what was going on, what had been set up, and how badly he had been played… And then black 'veins' of chakra began to rapidly spread across his body from where Black Zetsu's arm had pierced him, and he roared in agony. A mighty burst of wind rushed out from him, and the earth all around began to buckle and fracture.

"What the hell is this?-!" Naruto said. "His chakra's growing and changing!"

"His _Rinbo_ clones have come apart and vanished" Sasuke observed. "Something major's happening!"

Suddenly, huge streams of thick chakra burst out from the ground, knocking the quartet away and flowing in towards Madara and Zetsu. Black Zetsu began to grow, spreading over Madara, whose body was beginning to grow and bulge grotesquely, his white hair lengthening.

"Where is all this chakra coming from?-!" Sakura asked.

"Probably from the people caught in Infinite Tsukuyomi" Sasuke replied.

"If this keeps up, we're in deep trouble!" Naruto shouted. "This is more chakra than even the 10-Tails had!"

"Let's stop it before it gets any farther along, Naruto!"

Naruto nodded, forming one of his Truth-Seeker Orbs into a staff and charging in alongside the Uchiha. Sasuke used his new Rinnegan teleportation ability to get on the other side of the target, only for two thick tendrils of 'hair' to lash out and wrap around both boys before they could attack.

" _ **Two little moths have flown into the flames… I'll absorb**_ _ **your**_ _ **chakra now as well!**_ "

Sakura made to rush in to help, only for Kakashi to stop her. "Hold it, Sakura! If you act now without thinking carefully, you'll just be throwing your life away!"

"Damn it!" Naruto struggled. "Sasuke, we've gotta stop him! _We_ might be okay a little longer, but everyone else that's getting their chakra drained is gonna die soon!"

" _ **Don't worry; I have no intention of killing anyone. Kaguya plans to preserve everyone under the effects of the Infinite Tsukuyomi and keep them all alive… so that they can be turned into her soldiers.**_ "

"What… are you talking about?-!" Sasuke grunted out as he still tried to break free.

" _ **Hmph…**_ " Black Zetsu began to slither off of Obito, transferring onto the bulbous mass Madara was becoming. " _ **You're considerably dumber than Itachi. Normal people aren't suited for the kind of army Kaguya-sama desires… They will be made into White Zetsus! Once the Infinite Tsukuyomi has taken over completely, those people will all be just shells of their former selves… and what's left will become White Zetsu. All that's left is to sit back and wait a few years for the transformation to slowly take place.**_ "

"You're saying… you mean to turn everyone into those things?-!" Naruto shouted out.

At this point, Madara's body had bloated up to a massive size, still sucking in chakra while being covered in the jet-black matter of Zetsu. Suddenly, as the entire mass turned black, Obito's unconscious body dropped out. Then, the mass began to shrink, compressing and solidifying. Rapidly, a new figure took shape, its – _her_ – form finally settling: an unnaturally tall woman, clad in a white robe with _magatama_ designs on the sleeves and down the center, the sleeves and bottom of the robe lined in gold and purple, her long-fingernailed hands sticking out from within wide sleeves that seemed to be infinite blackness inside; her long bluish-white hair was fanned out behind her, two long dull-brown horns pointed up from the sides of her head, there were small circles of pigmentation above her Byakugan eyes, and the center of her forehead held a third, 'Sharrinegan' eye.

"It's… It's her…" Naruto murmured. "The one that Old Man Sage warned us about…"

Sasuke nodded. "Ōtsutsuki… Kaguya…"

Suddenly, the Six-Paths Sage's markings on Naruto's right and Sasuke's left palms glowed with power, and they were ejected from the hair-tendrils binding them. Kaguya slowly floated forward, her Byakugan activating.

"These two boys…" she spoke softly. "They are Hagoromo & Hamura's… No… Indra & Ashura's reincarnates?" She noticed the unique chakra carried inside the boys' hands. "Hagoromo must have given that to them…"

She looked around. When her eyes briefly fell upon Sakura for about two seconds, the pink-haired kunoichi briefly couldn't breathe, feeling like this newcomer was staring into the depths of her very soul.

"…What is your objective?" Kakashi asked.

"This place…" the fallen goddess said. "This world is my precious nursery… I have no intention of causing any more damage to it. Let us end this battle…"

Instantaneously, everything changed. Now, they all found themselves in midair several dozen feet over a lake of lava… and none of them other than Kaguya could fly.

"I shall erase you from existence here and now!"

'This isn't a genjutsu!' Kakashi thought with panic, feeling the heat. 'It's _real_!'

Acting quickly, Sasuke summoned one of his giant hawks. Riding it, he had the bird grab and catch Naruto with its talons and take flight… leaving Kakashi, Sakura, and Obito behind.

"Sasuke! What the fuck are you doing?-! Help _them_!"

Thinking fast, Kakashi grabbed Sakura with one hand while tossing a perfectly-aimed kunai with the other. The kuani was tied to a scroll which he grabbed hold of, while the black throwing knife impaled itself through Obito's left hand and into a wall, stopping the unconscious man from falling while Kakashi held on.

"Sorry about that, Obito…" Kakashi murmured.

Sakura gasped as her forehead-protector slipped off and plummeted below. On contact with the lava, the cloth instantly combusted and was burned to ashes, while the metal plate sank and melted.

"As I thought, it's not genjutsu…" Kakashi said. "Did she… transport us all to another dimension?"

"Nice save, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted.

"Eyes front, Naruto" Sasuke told him. "Let me be clear: If either of us does, the world ends. Your _yang_ power and my _yin_ power can seal her. If we can't do that, humanity will be annihilated. When the Infinite Tsukuyomi was cast… Kakashi and Sakura just happened to be next to you when I dove to make sure you stayed active. They're just tagalongs, and hindrances to us. Do you understand?"

Holding on to Sakura, Kakashi felt as her muscles tightened, her chakra becoming agitated. "Easy, Sakura…" he murmured, imagining the 'death glare' on her face. "Don't do anything while I'm holding you above a lake of lava…"

"I get where you're coming from…" Naruto admitted. "I don't _agree_ with it, but I understand what you mean. And… well, there _are_ times where your body just… moves on its own, remember?"

"…Hmph"

Suddenly, Kakashi felt the scroll he was hanging onto jerk. He looked up, and his eye widened as he saw it burning from where a few airborne embers had landed on it. As it snapped, sending Kakashi and Sakura dropping, Naruto immediately shot out an enlarged chakra arm, catching them. However, immediately Kaguya zeroed in on them, her Byakugan locking on as she fired a barrage of hair-needles. Sasuke formed a Stage-0 _Susanō_ to shield himself and Naruto, but one projectile stuck into Sasuke's left arm, a few of the needles penetrated his hawk summon's left wing, the Byakugan-aided projectiles striking _tenketsu_ points. With its wing now paralyzed, the bird began to plummet. However, before Sasuke, the hawk, and Kakashi & Sakura could hit the lava, they stopped. Kakashi and Sakura looked up, in shock.

"N-Naruto…" Sakura breathed out. "You… You can _fly_?-!"

Indeed, Naruto was now hovering in midair, his chakra arms holding onto everyone else. He looked around in surprise, and then smiled.

"Huh… I guess I _can_ …"

'Now that I think about it,' Kakashi thought, 'Madara became able to fly after he gained the Six-Paths Sage's power…'

As Sasuke pulled the oversized _senbon_ out of his arm, Naruto created a Shadow Clone and had it take care of Sakura & Kakashi. The duo glared at Kaguya, who glared right back.

"Chakra… is mine alone…" she declared. "I will unite it all under _my_ control, once again!"

She charged, and Naruto formed a giant chakra fist to meet her attack. The resulting clash blew a sizable hole in the side of the volcano they were all inside. As Naruto and Kaguya exchanged a flurry of rapid-fire strikes from giant chakra fists, Sasuke – now with a Form-4 _Susanō_ – dove in from above, blade drawn and ready to strike at Kaguya…

There was a massive explosion of force. Sasuke came flying out, tumbling through the air, his spectral summon rapidly disintegrating around him. He had no control of his 'flight', and his momentum was carrying him right toward a lake of lava… Suddenly, one of the rocks thrown up by the blast, right when it was behind Naruto, was instantaneously replaced by Sasuke, the rock being transported to where he'd just been and plummeting into the lava. Naruto quickly grabbed Sasuke with a chakra arm, and shape-shifted one of his Truth-Seeker Orbs into a platform for the Uchiha to stand on. Meanwhile, Naruto's Shadow Clone took the opportunity to grab Obito.

"I totally forgot you had that new special teleportation trick" Naruto remarked as he set Sasuke down on the floating platform. "You really had me worried for a second there!"

"The Sage gave both of us some pretty amazing abilities" Sasuke said. "But if we don't seal Kaguya away, it will have been for nothing."

Suddenly, a strange black distortion appeared in space beside Kaguya, like overlapping rectangles forming a rift in reality. She began to pass through it… and emerged from the exit portal that had opened up directly behind Naruto & Sasuke. They barely had time to turn and face her before she grabbed them. As she looked at them, tears formed in her eyes.

"You… remind me so much of them…" she murmured.

'I… can't move…!' Naruto tried to struggle.

Suddenly, a pitch-black mass emerged from Kaguya's sleeves, partially enveloping the sides of Naruto & Sasuke's bodies.

'She's draining our chakra!' Sasuke felt a spark of panic.

" _ **As Kaguya looks at the both of you…,**_ " Black Zetsu spoke as he absorbed from the boys, " _ **it appears she is reminded of Hagoromo and Hamura – her sons. Kaguya, who was sealed away by her own children… You can't help but feel a little sad for her as a mother, no?**_ "

"Why would Old Man Six-Paths do that to his mother?-!" Naruto growled. "It was the 10-Tails he sealed, wasn't it?"

" _ **It seems you are misinformed about something.**_ "

"Black Zetsu…" Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Just who and what are you?"

" _ **I am Kaguya's third child. …Since her sealing, I have wandered the earth, documenting and recording everything in her absence… everything that**_ _ **I**_ _ **created. The tale of shinobi… is one I crafted to bring about my mother's revival.**_ "

"What the hell are you talking about?-!" Naruto snapped.

" _ **That you know my mother's name must mean you met with Hagoromo's spirit. I know that with the power you two inherited from him, such a meeting is possible. And I know that he bestowed upon you the power to seal mother away again. …How strange, that after fighting for so long, the reincarnates of Indra and Asura would work together like this… Alright, then. Seeing as you two are ignorant of quite a few truths, I will enlighten you as I consume your chakra.**_

" _ **As I mentioned before, my mother was sealed away by the hands of her own sons. An extremely powerful seal… A technique that turned the 10-Tails into the core of a titanic**_ **Chibaku Tensei** _ **, gathering the fragments of the Moon, which was blown apart during the two sons' battle against the 10-Tails, and reforming them with the 10-Tails' body at the center. But just before mother was sealed again, she gave life to me… so that I could one day set about her revival.**_

" _ **The 10-Tails was not only made up of the Divine Tree, but also of mother. It was not an incarnation of the Divine Tree trying to reclaim the results of the chakra fruit. It was the result of mother merging herself with the Divine Tree, in order to reclaim the chakra that her two sons had 'taken' from her at birth. Even Hagoromo did not know this truth. …As Hagoromo lived on, oblivious to those truths, he sired and raised Indra & Asura… and created that ridiculous '**_ **ninshuu** _ **' creed.**_

" _ **But from all those little factors came one that would prove most important in mother's revival. After Indra lost the conflict over succession, I came to him, planting whispers in his ears and ideas in his head, nudging him in the direction which would lead to his 'betrayal' of his father's ideals. And thus afterwards, his descendants the Uchiha Clan became the cast of my story. Furthermore, I found that silly little 'handbook' Hagoromo left behind, the stone monument the Uchiha would come to revere, and… made some 'alterations' of my own. I even threw in something about how the Infinite Tsukuyomi would 'save the Uchiha'. And with that, everything played out wonderfully for me… thanks to your ancestors, Uchiha.**_

" _ **Indra and Uchiha, Asura and Senju… As they fought and warred, the desire for and pursuit of the power of chakra manipulation was created… And since then, I have approached both lines' reincarnates over and over, trying to bring about the Rinnegan's awakening… and failing. But when Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama came along, I was convinced – confident that Madara would succeed. That was the first step in reviving mother. …But after a clash of titans, Madara was struck down by Hashirama.**_

" _ **To a ninja, Madara's corpse would have been incalculably valuable. I had to prevent that, so I took his body and entombed it deep within the mountains near Konoha, to keep its secrets safely hidden. …But Madara had another ace up his sleeve. Sasuke… Do you remember when Itachi engraved a 'transcription seal' into your eye, enabling you to use Amaterasu later on? Madara also engraved the same type of seal into himself as a precautionary measure, leaving Izanagi on a time-delayed release from his right eye. By sacrificing that eye, he rewrote reality and 'undid' his own death, leaving a Shadow Clone in his place in the crypt. He regurgitated the chunk of flesh he'd bitten from Hashirama's arm, and infused it into himself. By doing that, he was at last able to awaken the Rinnegan and summon the**_ **Gedō Mazō** _ **. He infused and cultivated Hashirama's cells in the statue, creating a life-support system for himself. The White Zetsu were created as an accidental byproduct of this process… or so he believed. The truth was that I took those who had, centuries ago, been consumed by the Infinite Tsukuyomi and the Divine Tree, and altered their bodies to produce the White Zetsu.**_

" _ **I stuck to the shadows, fooling Madara into believing I had been born from him. And I came up with further plans, to lead into war… When the time came, I intentionally let Kabuto discover Madara's corpse, knowing he would use it to try and increase his own power. I also manipulated Obito into cooperating, and used him to deal with Madara's corpse. …And this entire war played out perfectly according to my design, ultimately ending in the casting of Infinite Tsukuyomi. And with the enormous amounts of chakra collected from the countless beings caught under its spell…**_ _ **I was finally able to revive mother**_ _ **.**_ "

"You two…" Kaguya spoke softly. "Hagoromo… Hamura… _I_ _hate_ _them…_ They no longer walk this earth… You boys shall take their place…"

" _ **My role is finished. Now, I shall return to the almighty mother-goddess.**_ "

"… _You_ …" Naruto growled, his chakra flaring. "You are _not_ the history of shinobi!"

With a burst of power, Naruto ripped himself free of Black Zetsu, and then used a chakra claw to tear Sasuke free as well.

"And another thing! A mother is supposed to be _proud_ and _happy_ when her children become strong enough to be independent!"

"Naruto…" Sasuke said. "In order to cast the seal, we need to create an opening."

"No problem" Naruto replied. "I've got a trick I can use, one I've been working on for a _long_ time!"

"…What kind of idea have you cooked up in that thick head of yours, Naruto?"

"C'mere and I'll tell ya."

" _ **I don't know what you're trying to do,**_ " Black Zetsu taunted from within Kaguya's left sleeve, " _ **but mother has absorbed every known technique. Anything you attempt is meaningless.**_ "

Meanwhile, the Shadow Clone of Naruto carrying Kakashi and Sakura was presently retrieving Obito.

"What's she doing?" Kakashi asked.

"Just glaring at everyone, at the moment" Sakura replied. Her body language and voice seemed unusually tense, and she occasionally acted as if something in her head or chest was hurting her.

"I see… She has the power to actually pull us into another dimension. This is on a completely different level from anything we've ever encountered before. It's like… we're fighting a goddess…"

"…How do we fight something like _that_ , Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"This might very well be the end for all of us," Naruto's Shadow Clone said as he placed his hand on the unconscious Obito's chest, "but we won't know for sure until we try." Soon, Obito began to stir.

Back at the 'main' battle…

"Are you _serious_?-!" Sasuke asked.

"Well, it can't hurt to _try_ " Naruto replied. "We won't know unless we give it a shot! I've been practicing this one even more than the Rasengan! I think this might be our best shot!"

Sasuke let out a weary, slightly exasperated sigh. "If it might have a chance of giving us an opening… The hell with it; let's go. I'll get my Rinnegan ready…"

The two of them made ready, weaving hand-seals. Sasuke focused his chakra, and Kaguya was struck by the jet-black flames of _Amaterasu_. The black hellfire was quickly dispelled over the course of a few seconds by the fallen goddess' power, but Naruto had used the opportunity to get in close. The Shadow Clones and the original all crossed their fingers…

"Take _this_!"

…were enveloped in puffs of _Henge_ smoke, and…

" _REVERSE HAREM JUTSU!-!_ "

…transformed into eight young men, all of them smiling at her, completely nude and uncommonly handsome.

"…What" Kakashi murmured.

" _WHAT?-!_ " Sakura screamed, the strange feelings in her head temporarily blown away (and a trickle of blood flowing from her nose).

" _ **What…?**_ " Black Zetsu sounded utterly bewildered.

"What a buffoon…" Sasuke sighed.

However, it had an unexpected result: Kaguya was completely flummoxed (and maybe a little 'interested'), her eyes wide in shock. Then, abruptly, the Shadow Clones dispelled, and Naruto landed a crushing blow that sent her flying.

" _This_ is the history of ninja, bitch!" he roared.

"IT _WORKED_?-!" Sakura screeched. "IT ACTUALLY FUCKING _WORKED?-!-?-!_ "

There were twin bursts of motion, and Naruto & Sasuke were on either side of Kaguya, seal-marked hands outstretched and approaching while she was helpless…

The eye in the center of the fallen goddess' forehead flashed. Reality 'hiccupped'. Kaguya now hovered in place, looking a little annoyed, at the center of a massive block of ice that held Naruto & Sasuke frozen in place, inches from her. All around, the lava world had vanished, replaced by a frozen world of masses of ice and harshly blowing snow. Kaguya formed a portal, vanishing through it and reappearing from another one a few dozen meters away.

She floated close to the trapped boys, Black Zetsu beginning to extend from within her left sleeve. Naruto's Truth-Seeking Orbs were visibly pushing their way through the ice, but hadn't been able to move very far yet. Fortunately, Sasuke proved to have something faster. Summoning more black fire, he used _Kagutsuchi_ to manipulate the flames into thin 'blades' that sliced through the ice block, shattering it and freeing the two of them.

"I guess my plan didn't work…" Naruto said.

"Not that I expected it to in the first place" Sasuke replied. "We go with _my_ plan this time."

"Maybe we can try it with some help this time…"

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, I've told you before: Kakashi and Sakura are completely _useless_ right now! They've _always_ been!"

"Hey! That's not cool!"

" _ **Mother,**_ " Black Zetsu spoke up, " _ **these two are becoming a nuisance. How about we split them up and handle them one at a time? You could toss one into another of your realms…**_ "

Kaguya smirked. "I do not believe that will be necessary. Earlier, I set something in motion, and now I sense that it is ready to pay off…"

She turned her gaze over to where the other group had set down atop a glacier a distance away. …Naruto and his Shadow Clone had been so busy focusing on fighting Kaguya and healing Obito, respectively, that they hadn't noticed: a 'mass' of negative emotions – anger, frustration, disgust, contempt, hatred – growing slowly throughout the battle and now doing so much more rapidly, as if having passed a threshold. And all of it was coming from Sakura. Her body tightened and trembled from barely-repressed fury, and her hateful gaze was focused solely on Sasuke.

"When I read that girl's Heart before the battle began," Kaguya continued, "I viewed some of her memories, and sensed the myriad of negative emotions she has come to feel toward _you_ " she pointed at Sasuke. "As a contingency plan, at that moment I placed a… 'seed' within her, which has 'sprouted' quickly and is now 'bearing fruit'. It fed her feelings of anger, bitterness, contempt, and such towards you, boy, as a result of the quite frankly horrible way you have been treating her, and magnified them, filling her with contempt and furious hatred of you, to the point that any moment now it will be completely uncontainable. … _She_ will deal with you for me, or at least keep you occupied.

"Of course, I cannot create emotions from nothing; I can only strengthen and magnify what was already there to begin with. Had you not been so awful to her, Uchiha-kun, I likely would not have been able to do this. Now… Know that one of your strongest, most determined foes is an enemy of your own making…"

Kaguya snapped her fingers, and a portal appeared beneath Sakura's feet, letting her drop in, to the shock of Kakashi and Naruto's Shadow Clone. Another one opened up a couple meters off the ground nearby, letting the pink-haired girl drop to land on her feet. Her body was trembling, and her head was down to hide her face.

"C… Come on, Sakura-chan" Naruto said. "You're better than that, right? I mean… after everything, you wouldn't-"

Fast as he was, Sasuke still barely reacted in time, forming a Stage-0 _Susanō_ ribcage to block Sakura's attack, the punch leaving the spectral defense visibly cracked and damaged. Sakura's face was twisted into an expression of feral rage, her eyes burning with hatred. Her second blow shattered Sasuke's defense and sent him flying, tumbling across the ground with her in hot pursuit. Naruto was about to jump in and help, when suddenly he had to leap to the side to avoid being grabbed by Kaguya's left arm emerging from a portal behind him.

" _ **Impressive reflexes…**_ " Black Zetsu remarked. " _ **How long can you keep it up?**_ "

Kaguya then vanished into a portal, and Naruto stayed in place, senses tuned and eyes peeled, knowing she could come from anywhere at any time.

Sasuke cursed under his breath as he moved to dodge Sakura's attacks; he knew attempting to block one would be painfully futile; with his Rinnegan left eye, he could see the amount of chakra backed into her fists and feet, and knew a direct strike from one could cripple or even kill him. She was in the grips of her artificially-enhanced rage, her hatred of him pushing her power to new heights. Sasuke knew from personal experience how hate could make someone stronger, and now he was on the _receiving_ end of that. At first, part of him wanted to blame Sakura for being mentally weak enough to succumb to Kaguya's powers like this… but the logical part of his brain butted in and pointed out that normally Sakura had become quite strong in terms of mental fortitude; it was _his_ actions and treatment of her that had fed her anger enough for this to happen.

Somewhere deep inside him, enough so that his conscious mind could barely even detect a fleeting glimpse of it, Sasuke felt guilt.

Part of Sasuke wanted to kill Sakura, to make this stop. But this was stopped by two factors. One was the lingering affection he still held for his old teammate, deep inside. And the other was that she was proving powerful and skilled enough that it was likely he _couldn't_ kill her, that she was proving to be a _match_ for him, skillfully avoiding or deflecting what counterattacks he tried to make, showing herself easily capable of ending his life if he made even the slightest misstep. …A little part of him felt a burgeoning attraction to her because of this fact. He briefly considered shoving a _Chidori_ through her in hopes of at least slowing her down while her healing factor fixed her up, but knowing how she was now, she very well might grab hold of his arm as it was stuck through her and rip it right off. So for now, he stayed mostly on the defensive, praying he could find a way out of this before Kaguya finished Naruto off.

"Ugh… Where… am I…?"

Kakashi and Naruto's Shadow Clone stood by as Obito regained consciousness.

"I… should have been dead…" he murmured, confused.

"I was able to revitalize you" Clone-Naruto replied. "But…"

"…I know. …What became of Madara? Did you defeat him?"

"Sort of" Kakashi replied. "But now, things have changed greatly."

"…If you haven't defeated the enemy yet, then take me to them. Explain on the way."

Clone-Naruto nodded. "I can sense something's happening to the original me."

"…Where's Sakura-san?"

Clone-Naruto sighed. "I'll explain that on the way, too. Come on."

Meanwhile, the real Naruto found himself pinned under several spires of glacial ice that had formed and reached out from the world around him, attacking him and keeping him in place, snapping shut like a giant Venus-flytrap. Just as the other group arrived off to the side, Kaguya appeared through a portal, slowly floating closer toward the trapped Naruto… who wasn't as trapped as he appeared to be.

"The real Naruto pinned down, and Sakura being controlled by her hate of Sasuke thanks to Kaguya's power, going all-out in an attempt to kill him…" Obito sighed.

"How did it come to this?" Kakashi murmured. "Damn it, Sasuke; if you hadn't treated her like that…"

As Kaguya began to charge, Naruto made ready.

'She may be a powerhouse,' he thought, 'but she's not that good a direct fighter. I can stick with the basics: diversions & feints, and _taijutsu_! I'll corner her, and if she tries to make a portal jump I'll try following her! And then, I've gotta make Sakura calm down so Sasuke can get back in the fight!'

'ARE YOU READY, NARUTO?' Kokuō asked. 'I'M GOING TO BRING YOUR CHAKRA TO BOILING POINT.'

Naruto's aura flared explosively, superheating the masses of ice restraining him and blowing them apart. Boosted by the 5-Tails' power, he roared out and struck the charging goddess with a hammer-blow that sent her careening all the way through the nearest glacier. He flew up into the air, and as Kaguya pulled herself free Naruto utilized _Yang_ -Kurama's chakra for one of his signature techniques:

" _Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!-!_ "

Now, hundreds of Narutos hovered in the air, every one of them glaring at Kaguya. She flew at them, unleashing vacuum-palm strikes, but most of the Narutos avoided and came right at her.

"Now, this is _my_ dimension!" he shouted. "U!"

His blow was blocked by Kaguya's right hand.

"Zu! Ma!"

Two more Shadow-Clones came in, their strikes being blocked by – and keeping occupied – Kaguya's other arm and one of her legs. This allowed another clone's attack to land, and then…

"Ki! _Naruto Ittai Rendan!-!_ "

As the storm of Shadow Clones rushed in, Kaguya made her retreat, flying up through a portal. However, one Naruto – the original, from the looks of it – managed to slip in after her. Finding himself in a rocky area, he straightened up, glaring at the surprised Kaguya and Black Zetsu.

" _ **He got in? He followed us here, where the other dimensions are linked. …Mother, this boy is too unpredictable, and too capable an opponent. We can't keep fooling around with him. …Forget about taking his chakra. We really should kill him now.**_ "

"I need his chakra…"

" _ **You use a great deal whenever you switch dimensions. You should save what you have left for later. If he manages to get Sasuke out and save him, and they seal you, it's all over. It's true that, by killing him, you'll miss out on quite a bit of chakra. But we can make it without it. It's still better than our plan being ruined.**_ "

Kaguya sighed. "…You are right. Very well. _Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu_!" {共殺の灰骨}

Kaguya opened a portal and pointed her left palm at it, and from her palm fired a spear of bone. Naruto swayed to the side, narrowly dodging it when it came out from behind him… but that left him open to a follow-up that was fired directly, spearing him through the stomach. He cried out in horror as his body began to rapidly disintegrate, breaking down into ash.

" _ **That should take care of the Shadow Clones back in the ice-world. Let's head back…**_ "

Kaguya nodded, vanishing through a portal… and, upon returning to the ice-world, coming face to face with the Shadow Clone Legion.

"You sent a Shadow Clone through…" Kaguya remarked in a flat tone that hid her slight annoyance.

Naruto grinned. "Come on; let's start the next round!"

Meanwhile, the fight between Sasuke & Sakura continued, with Sasuke showing a few bruises from glancing blows, while Sakura – her healing factor still active – was unmarred. Finally, Sasuke decided enough was enough, calling up his _Susanō_ at Stage 2. The huge purple chakra-construct brought its blade high and swung it downward… and the ice & earth beneath Sakura cratered as she managed to _catch_ the blade. Sasuke stared in open shock as the enraged kunoichi held the giant chakra blade between her hands. Then, with a roar, she wrenched to the side, and the blade snapped in two. She then took the snapped-off half even as it was dissolving, and hurled it like a javelin at the chest of Sasuke's _Susanō_ , leaving a crack. Finally, she focused all her power, and cried out in furious power as she struck the crack as hard as she could, pressing and pouring her chakra into her strike as she felt it begin to give…

There was a sound like a big glass window being broken as Sasuke's spectral defense _shattered_ , purple chakra coming apart and leaving the thoroughly shocked youth totally exposed. Sakura, still driven by her enhanced hate, wasted no time in taking advantage of the opening. She moved in almost faster than Sasuke's super-enhanced eyes could even perceive, and before he could get away she struck. Sasuke cried out, being sent flying back with great force, a horrible pain in his upper torso.

As he finally tumbled and skidded to a stop, Sasuke lay on his back, his body wracked with pain. A quick check of himself with his Rinnegan confirmed the awful state he was in; every single rib was broken to some degree, a few of the sharp, jagged broken edges pierced into his lungs, as well as one having nicked a major artery. Every breath was agonizing. Then, Sakura was there again, standing over him with hate in her eyes. She charged power into her fist, bringing it up with intent to pulverize his skull. Despite the pain and everything else, Sasuke managed to focus his chakra faster than she did, and did the only thing he could think of to save himself, hoping that his previous lackluster performance of the technique would be enough:

" _Tsukuyomi!_ "

Sakura jerked, her eyes going wide and then rolling back as she fell over beside him, out cold. As he lay there, Sasuke knew his victory would be short-lived; with the degree of damage she'd dealt him, if he didn't get help _fast_ he was going to die – either drowned in his own blood, suffocated by a pneumothorax, or bleeding out from the arterial damage. But he could barely move… Suddenly, an unexpected help arrived, as a distortion of space-time heralded Obito's arrival. The older Uchiha looked shocked as his eyes allowed him to see hints of the state the two were in; Sakura was unconscious and a little bit low on chakra, but stable, while Sasuke's wavering chakra, his movements and way of breathing, spoke of significant internal damage.

"Get me… to Naruto…" Sasuke wheezed weakly.

Obito nodded, using his Kamui to warp Sasuke, Sakura, and himself away, hoping that Naruto would even have the opportunity to use his Six-Paths power to save Sasuke.

A shockwave of power dispelled several of Naruto's Shadow Clones, but there were still plenty more where those came from. Kaguya began to open another portal… but then stopped. After a few seconds, she charged, heading right for a certain one of the Narutos… the only one with Truth-Seeker Orbs floating behind his back. She formed two more Disintegration Bones, but two Shadow Clones intercepted them to save the real Naruto. Now, a veritable wall of Shadow Clones formed a defensive half-sphere around Naruto, and in response Kaguya formed two bone-blades from her palms and charged in, slicing and stabbing to dispel them. Naruto growled.

"Is that the best you got?-! There's no way in hell I'm gonna lose!"

At this moment, Obito arrived, with Sasuke and Sakura in tow. Naruto turned to look at them… and that's when Kaguya struck. Her prehensile hair lashed out, wrapping around Naruto and holding him in place, allowing her to stab a Disintegrating Bone-Blade right through his torso. Everyone looked on in horror… and then surprise as 'Naruto' burst, the Truth-Seeker Orbs flying away and taking position behind a different Naruto.

" _ **Damn it! He can shift them to his clones?-!**_ "

"Naruto!" Obito shouted. "Sasuke needs healing!"

Naruto nodded, flying down to the rest of the group as Kakashi came up as well. He placed his hands on Sasuke's chest, his eyes widening as he sensed the magnitude of Sasuke's injuries. He let the Six-Paths Sage's chakra pulse out, and Sasuke gritted his teeth as his bones knitted back together, blood vessels being mended, the holes in his lungs sealing shut and the blood gathered in them being removed.

"How's Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"I used Tsukuyomi to knock her unconscious" Sasuke replied. "…I barely survived her, Naruto; the only time I've ever been closer to death was when Madara stabbed me."

The two of them stepped forward, ready to fight together once more. Meanwhile, up above, Kaguya and Black Zetsu hovered.

" _ **This whole thing's gotten too dangerous, mother. I think it's time to stop worrying about 'wasting' chakra…**_ "

"Right…" Kaguya murmured, as her forehead eye flashed.

Again, reality shifted. Now, everyone suddenly found themselves falling over, while the Shadow Clones fell to the ground with such force that they dispelled on impact. The ground looked strange, and the conscious quartet realized their bodies felt unnaturally heavy to a crippling degree.

"This time, it's… a high-gravity dimension…?" Sasuke groaned out.

Kaguya was also affected, kneeling on the ground and struggling to move. However, she still was able to lift her arms, aiming and then firing two Disintegration Bone spears. But thanks to the gravity throwing off her aim, the boys were just barely able to dodge.

" _ **Adjusting and compensating for the increased gravity… Let me aim for you, mother.**_ "

Now, as Kaguya & Zetsu prepared to fire again, Kakashi and Obito used all their strength to move as fast as they could, desperate to at least shield Naruto & Sasuke with themselves. As they moved, they swore they could each feel a hand take hold of theirs and pull them along. Just as Kaguya fired, Kakashi & Obito took position in the path of the attacks. It was at this point that Sakura fully regained consciousness, and stared in shock at what was taking place, unable to do anything in time.

…The bone-spear about to hit Kakashi abruptly vanished, torn apart and pulled into a dimensional rift, sent harmlessly into the realm of _Kamui_. The one aimed at Obito hit dead-on, spearing into his stomach area. Kakashi stared in shocked horror, remembering when, years ago, his old teammate had thrown him out of the way of that falling boulder.

"It's not your time yet, Kakashi…" Obito said, a weak grin on his face.

"…Why?" Kakashi whispered.

"The younger generation… still needs your guidance, Kakashi…" Obito responded, as his body began to slowly crumble and break apart, spreading from where he'd been impaled. Naruto placed a hand on Obito, and then gritted his teeth in frustration.

" _ **Even that will not save him now, Naruto**_ " Black Zetsu said. " _ **He is doomed. All that is left for him is to crumble away into ashes! Why even try to help him? He was your enemy, wasn't he? …Eh, it doesn't matter. Even when he was, he ended up betraying us. He's worthless scum, either way! Despised by his allies and enemies alike, no friends or family to speak of… He is alone, and will leave**_ _ **nothing**_ _ **behind… Losing his most precious person, and never being able to achieve his dream… Even once you give him purpose, he just teeters around aimlessly, an ignorant fool who could never get anything right… All that's left is to die a hideous death.**_ "

"…I suppose you're right" Obito said. "For a sinner like me… it's an appropriate end."

Suddenly, Sasuke's Rinnegan was done 'recharging', and he used _Amenotejikara_ to instantaneously appear behind Kaguya, Chidori in hand. In response, Kaguya shifted everyone to another dimension, undoing the gravity spell and soaring upwards to dodge Sasuke's attack. Sasuke formed his _Susanō_ at Stage 4, and flew up after her.

"Naruto… Kakashi… I still have… a small portion of the Six-Paths Sage's chakra in me… I'm going to use it… to give one last gift…"

Then, they watched in shock as Obito reached his arms – already starting to crumble – up to his face and pulled out his own eyes. Holding the eyeballs close together, he concentrated, bending the holy chakra left in him to his will. The eyes transformed into masses of light, and merged together, like cell division in reverse. When the light faded, there was a single Mangekyō Sharingan eye, the pinwheel pattern now with six 'spokes' instead of three.

"You can still make a difference, Kakashi…" Obito said, his voice beginning to weaken. "My final gift to you… is an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan… No more worrying about using huge amounts of chakra to keep your Sharingan uncovered… or to use _Kamui_ with it… No worrying about degenerating eyesight… And since it contains the power of two Mangekyō… you may even be able to form a _Susanō_ … Naruto, take it; give it to him…"

Naruto nodded, very carefully picking the offered eye up with tiny 'arms' of shaped chakra. He walked over to Kakashi, gently pushing it into the silver-haired man's empty left socket. Kakashi winced as he felt Naruto's Six-Paths chakra flow into and through his skull for a few seconds, connecting blood vessels, nerves, muscles, and such. After a few seconds, he opened his new eye.

"Thank you, Naruto…" Obito said, his now-empty eyelids closed and a small smile on his face, as the disintegration of his body accelerated. "Fighting together with you… I feel as if I've somehow woken up. It's like… When I look at you, I'm looking at myself from long ago… and it makes me regret what I've become now. But… even so… more than anything, it makes me happy. …Back when I was a kid, I used to imagine over and over about becoming Hokage. Excitement, anxiety… and countless other feelings I can't put into words… I suppose you've made me remember all that. …Back in the village, surrounded by friends and comrades… with me as Hokage… It's too late now, but just by imagining all that… I think I feel the hole in my heart starting to fill…" He chuckled. "My imminent end is making me ramble… From here on, you'll probably face more pain, more tragedy… But I'm sure that, with that unchanging, unyielding philosophy of yours, you'll make it through. …You told me, 'following your own words, straight ahead and unwavering, and never going back on them'… That's your 'ninja way'."

"Yeah…" Naruto whispered.

"Naruto… _I_ _know_ _you will become Hokage._ "

And then, held at bay for so long, the disintegration accelerated to completion, the man crumbling away into ashes and dust. Obito Uchiha was no more.

Black Zetsu's wicked laughter rang out. " _ **So, the treacherous worm finally died! Although, maybe with that kind of stubborn tenacity, he was more of a**_ _ **cockroach**_ _ **!**_ "

"Don't you _dare_ mock him!-!" Naruto roared out. "Even if it was for the wrong reasons… He put everything he had into what he believed in… persevered through so much… wanted so badly to become Hokage… Someone like that…"

And in a flash of movement, Naruto was right there, having just severed Kaguya's left arm – and Black Zetsu – from her body.

"…is nothing but 'awesome' to _me_!-!"

As Zetsu and the severed arm plummeted to the ground, Naruto formed and threw a pair of Six-Paths Chakra Rods down at it, impaling through to pin the shadowy creature and the limb in place. In response, Kaguya quickly re-grew her limb and used her 80 Gods Vacuum Palm attack to break Sasuke's Perfect _Susanō_ apart. However, with how badly wounded she was, she was now in the perfect position. Naruto formed eight Shadow Clones, and the nine Narutos gathered donated power from each of the Tailed Beasts within him, creating nine special _Rasenshuriken_ , each infused with a different element of power. He let them fly, and Kaguya was unable to avoid them as they closed in from all directions.

The impact shook the sky, Sasuke being blown away a little by the shockwave only to be caught by a shape-shifted platform from Naruto. After a few seconds, Kaguya was seen, having been sent flying backwards, now noticeably damaged/injured. Suddenly, the side of her body began to rapidly bulge out asymmetrically, engulfing her as it grew in size. Soon, she had been forced into the form of a massive, bulbous _thing_ with the head of a three-eyed fanged rabbit, and the faces of the nine Tailed Beasts bulging out, as if trying to break free.

"So what the hell is it now?" Naruto asked. "Fox? Raccoon? Badger? Rabbit?"

"Who cares?" Sasuke replied. "A giant target will be easier to seal."

' _ **Mother's lost control of the lesser Tailed Beasts! Did Naruto's attack make them separate?-!**_ '

Suddenly, ten gigantic tails/tentacles with hands at their tips shot out from the mass in all directions. Some of Naruto's Shadow Clones immediately shoved their original and Sasuke out of the way, and when the tails/hands touched them they were absorbed nigh-instantly. The two boys then watched in horror as one of the hands began to approach Sakura down below… when she was suddenly snatched up by a giant spectral hand. The two looked on in shock as a Form-4 'Perfect' _Susanō_ of a green color flew up into the sky, Sakura safely in hand. And at the center of the massive construct's forehead-gem…

"Alright…" Kakashi said, his new Eternal MS glowing with power, "it's time to put Obito's last gift to good use!"

One of the tails/hands came racing towards the hero group. Sakura yelped in surprise as Kakashi's _Susanō_ 's left hand pushed her into the main body of the construct, and then at Kakashi's will both hands now bore giant shuriken shaped like his original Mangekyō design. He let them fly, severing four tail-tips/hands, and where they'd cut distortions in space sucked in portions of the 'limbs', preventing them from reattaching.

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted. "That's even more awesome than what _yours_ can do, Sasuke!"

Suddenly, the earth below broke apart, as a mass of chakra streamed up and into the eldritch thing floating in the sky. The fanged-rabbit head's mouth opened wide, far past normal limits, revealing something pitch-black within. The vaguely spherical monster's body began to stretch off, pulling back and shrinking away. Soon, it had returned to the former of Kaguya, her right hand placed against an _enormous_ Truth-Seeking Orb, dwarfing Kakashi's Form-4 _Susanō_ and steadily growing even larger.

" _ **Being able to directly absorb chakra from the shinobi under the effect of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, this genesis dimension is mother's special domain! The Tailed Beasts have already settled down, and now mother has summoned her Truth-Seeking Orb! Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, Lightning, Wood, Light, and Shadow… She has combined all of them together, and it is growing larger… This is the birth of a new dimension, and you all shall become its sacrifices!**_ "

" _Kamui_ can't warp away something of that magnitude…" Kakashi said. "Even if we were to retreat to its realm, if that thing keeps growing at that rate, there's no way we'd be able to return."

"So we've got to stop it" Sasuke surmised. "We need to seal her, and _fast_."

"Everyone huddle up. I have a plan… This will be our final mission as Team 7!"

"I am immortal…" Kaguya said. "But if either one of you two dies, you will no longer be able to seal me. So then… Which of you shall it be?"

"I'm your opponent, _bitch_!" Naruto roared out as he and his clones seemed to crowd around Sasuke as if to block him.

"Let's do this together, Naruto" Sasuke replied. "Twice as much of a threat for her…"

(MUSIC: _Naruto Shippūden_ OST – "Heaven-Shaking Event")

As Sasuke, Naruto & his clones charged, Kakashi's _Susanō_ soared upwards. Kaguya fired a trio of precision-shot Disintegration Bone spears at the construct, penetrating it, but Kakashi used _Kamui_ to phase himself right through the one that had been aimed for him, and he also charged a kunai in his right hand with Lightning chakra that became black in color and difficult to look directly at, and launched himself at Kaguya with lightning speed.

" _Kamui Raikiri!_ "

The strike cut deep through Kaguya's right arm, leaving her stunned and the arm immobilized while it regenerated, its self-repair slowed by the dimension-warping effect of the attack. She fired a bone-spear at Naruto approaching from her left, while beginning to open a portal between herself and Sasuke coming in from her right. However, 'Sasuke' transformed in a puff of smoke, revealed to be the original Naruto, while the Shadow Clone on the other side began to disintegrate. Down below, Black Zetsu fired a Bone-Spear through a portal to come out of the already-forming one on Kaguya's right, aiming it at Naruto, only for Kakashi to look up and use a precision _Kamui_ to force the breach closed. Sasuke used _Amenotejikara_ to swap with the decaying Shadow Clone, and the boys' sealing hands were outstretched. Desperate, Kaguya started to fly upward in an attempt to escape…

"Hey, bitch! Forgetting someone?-!"

Sakura came falling in from Kakashi's _Susanō_ above, landing a chakra-supercharged punch that knocked Kaguya back downward… right into contact with Naruto & Sasuke's outstretched palms.

 _RIKUDŌ: CHIBAKU TENSEI_

'A… Again…' Kaguya thought, stunned and furious, as a seal snapped shut over her central eye. 'I, the progenitor of chakra manipulation, the _god_ of chakra… am defeated by chakras lesser than mine? _Why?-!_ '

As Naruto and Sasuke broke away, the former making sure to grab Sakura with him, Kaguya's body began to grow and distort, shifting into the 10-Tails even as the earth below began fragmenting and floating upward. Nine masses of chakra bulged out from the 10-Tails' body and then broke free, dropping to the ground as the Tailed Beasts.

"WE'RE FINALLY OUT!" Son Gokū said. "YOUR _JINCHŪRIKI_ REALLY GETS THINGS DONE, KURAMA!"

"HMPH…"

The fanged-rabbit head of the 10-Tails suddenly spat out a small lump that plummeted to Earth, revealed to be a de-powered and unconscious Madara. Then, the 10-Tails reverted to the form of the Demonic-Path Statue, as the masses of earth and rock began to congregate on it, using it as the core of the mother of all _Chibaku Tensei_. As the giant Truth-Seeking Orb fell apart and disintegrated while the sphere of stone grew and grew while floating upwards, Sasuke landed near Kakashi, Sakura, and the Tailed Beasts.

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"He said he had one last thing to take care of…" Sasuke replied.

"So…" Naruto – now de-transformed and in his normal state – said as he landed beside the pinned Black Zetsu. "You never wanted to leave your mother's side, did you?"

" _ **You**_ _ **bastard**_ _ **!-!**_ "

"Just 'cause you've been hiding back in the shadows this whole time while you've been babbling on and on… doesn't mean I was gonna leave you out of the fun!"

" _ **You… You're just another part of the history of shinobi that I created! A brat like you can't touch the likes of me!**_ "

"The shinobi history…" Naruto gripped the sleeve of the robe of the severed arm Zetsu was bonded to. "It was created by all shinobi… How they live, and how they died! Don't you compare the likes of them _to some mama's-boy spoiled brat!-!-!_ "

With a mighty heave, Naruto flung Black Zetsu high, slamming into the forming _Chibaku Tensei_ where he was rapidly pulled in, hidden from view as more and more earth bonded to the growing sphere. Soon, the _Chibaku Tensei_ was in orbit, leaving behind a gigantic chunk missing from the planet it now orbited, and still growing.

"It's… still getting bigger…" Kakashi murmured.

"And that's a warp!" Naruto said as he came in. "Kaguya _and_ Black Zetsu are locked up with the key thrown away! Now, let's celebrate!-!"

"Wait…" Sakura said… and then panicked. " _HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET OUT OF HERE?-!_ The planet's _coming apart_ and we've got _no way back home!-!_ "

"…Oh. …OhhhhhHHHH _CRAAAAAAP_!-!-! _WE'RE GONNA DIE HERE!-!-!_ "

"…HE'S STILL KIND OF AN IDIOT, THOUGH…" Son Gokū murmured.

Suddenly, the whole group – five humans and nine Tailed Beasts – vanished. When they reappeared, they found themselves back at a familiar battlefield, the main quartet at the center of a massive Summoning circle ringed by multiple ghostly figures.

"Welcome back, Naruto…" _Edo_ -Minato said with a grin.

"Dad…?"

"…Naruto, who is this?" Sakura asked.

"It's the old Sage of Six Paths! What's going on here…?"

"You've all returned" the ghostly old man said with a smile. "Together with all the previous _Kage_ , we summoned you here with _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_. I called them here from the afterlife so that they could help. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi… Congratulations on saving the world!"

"You're…" Kakashi was stunned "the legendary…"

"I am Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo; by some, I am called the Sage of Six Paths."

"Well, look at all this…" the ghost of the First Raikage said. "I'm guessing this means things turned out okay for us."

"In the time I've been dead, the world of ninjas sure has been through some crazy stuff…" the First Tsuchikage remarked.

"This is the first time I've ever seen this many of the Tailed Beasts assembled in one place" the First Mizukage said with wonder.

"The Six-Paths Sage, huh?" the First Kazekage said. "It feels like I've fallen into a fairy tale…"

"It really must be true, then…" Kakashi continued. "Summoning all the former _Kage_ , bringing us back from that other dimension with Tailed Beasts in tow… No-one but the Sage could be capable of such godly feats."

"You did well, Hatake-kun, leading everyone in sealing my fallen mother."

"No, I was pretty useless until Obito gave me this eye…"

"But you still led them well. You continued to guide and teach Naruto and the others, continued standing beside Obito… Had you not, mother might not have been sealed."

"Yo!" Naruto shouted and waved "Kurama! Were ya lonely all by yourself over here? I missed ya!"

"DON'T SCREAM OUT STUPID, SENTIMENTAL CRAP LIKE THAT AT ME, ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF EVERYONE! HALF OF ME WAS INSIDE YOU THE WHOLE TIME, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

"Kurama, of all beings, getting flustered and embarrassed…" the Sage remarked with a smile. "But then, this is just as I foresaw: that one day, a person like this would come along, and cooperate with and stand beside the Tailed Beasts as friends."

"Obito's return was also thanks to Naruto" Kakashi said. "Naruto brought him back… however briefly."

"I see… I'll have to ask him for his side of the story in the Other-world."

"…How did it end, Kakashi?" Minato asked.

"He threw himself in the path of a lethal attack from Kaguya to protect Naruto. Before he died, he removed his own eyes and used the tiny portion of the Sage's chakra he still had to forge an Eternal Mangekyō for me. …Speaking of what killed him, I believe we now know exactly where that old clan in Kirigakure got their bone-manipulation bloodline from."

" _Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu_ …" the Six-Paths Sage said. "One of mother's simplest, yet most lethal abilities…"

Suddenly, Sasuke began to move toward where _Edo_ -Hashirama was approaching the fallen Madara, only for the Sage to stop him.

"Madara became a _Jinchūriki_ ," the Sage said, "if only for a short while. Now that he's had the Tailed Beasts removed from him… he is beyond saving."

"He knew what he was doing…" Sasuke replied. "And now he'll suffer the consequences."

"Sasuke… Naruto… Your predecessors are exchanging their final words. You should listen."

"Hashirama…" Madara croaked out, his voice weak. "You and I… Despite always dreaming, and reaching for the stars… we never could reach them…"

"Our kind of dreams are never easy" the First Hokage replied. "The thing is… we can only do so much in our lifetimes… That's why it's imperative to entrust the rest to those who come after us…"

"As soft as ever… You've always been… a glass-half-full idiot… But maybe… That _was_ the right way to do things… My dream is no more… and yours still lives on."

"Always rushing things… You should have come to terms with the fact there were things you couldn't achieve. You forgot to properly raise those who followed behind you… the ones you could've entrusted things to."

"That would have been… beyond my capabilities… I always hated… having people follow me…"

"…When we were kids, you said that as ninjas there was no telling when we would die… and if we ever found a way to stave off that inevitability, we'd share it even if we remained enemies… and drink together over it, as brothers. …But we're dying now. So, all we can do is share a drink as comrades."

"As… comrades, huh? Well… if that's… how we… will…"

Before he could finish his sentence and make his opinion clear, the last of Madara's waning life-force slipped away, and the man who'd caused so much destruction and trouble at last went silent and still.

"Kaguya and her lackey are sealed away, and Madara is dead…" Sakura stated in a low, calm tone. "Now… There's just one last thing to do…"

And then, before anyone else could react, there was a blur of motion, and they all looked in shock as Sakura was holding Sasuke up off the ground, her hand tightly gripping his neck. Even the Six-Paths Sage was caught by unpleasant surprise. Sasuke's hands gripped at her wrist, but in his exhausted state he couldn't pry himself free.

"Sakura?-! What the hell!"

"Back off, Naruto!" she snapped, glaring hatefully at the now-helpless Sasuke as she began pulling her other fist back and charging chakra into it. "This needs to be done! He betrayed us over and over! He planned to annihilate the Leaf Village! He's unstable, and selfish, and hateful, and cruel, and power-hungry, twisted and evil! He only helped us because he had no other choice, because he knew the world would end if he didn't! The minute this is all finally over and he doesn't need us anymore, he'll betray and try to kill us all again! After so long, I finally know how he works now! He's irredeemable! He's a backstabbing _monster_! I _have_ to do this! Sasuke _needs_ to die!-!"

"Sakura…" Kakashi spoke carefully. "Please, calm down. You don't want to do this…"

"I _do_ , sensei. More than _anything_ else! I want to rip his eyes out and snap his neck!"

"He won't turn traitor now," Hashirama chimed in, "not after everything that's happened."

"I can't believe that, _Shodaime_. I have to make sure he never gets the _chance_ to!"

"Sakura-chan," _Edo_ -Hiruzen said, "I know you're not the type to murder someone out of cold-blooded revenge."

"This isn't just revenge; it's justice! Protecting the village from one of the biggest threats it's ever known! We don't need Sasuke; the Sage is here, we can just have _him_ help Naruto undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi! After all the horrible things he's done to us – to Naruto, to Kakashi-sensei, to _me_ – we can't let him live!"

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder. "Please… Don't do this. I don't want to see you resort to doing something like this. That isn't you. We still need him, Sakura. I'm not asking you to forgive him. But please… Don't kill Sasuke. We still need him. He won't turn on us. I won't let that happen. …Please…"

As Sakura looked up at Sasuke, there was no anger in his eyes. There was shock, and fear, and… sadness? Shame? …Guilt? Sakura gritted her teeth, a conflict raging within her. Then, after several seconds, she threw Sasuke to the side, and then stalked off as he coughed and gasped for breath.

"So…" Naruto stood over his counterpart. "Now what?"

After catching his breath, Sasuke spoke in a slightly ragged tone, his throat still sore. "I… I'm done, Naruto. Even if I _wanted_ to pull off some big last-minute thing now, I don't have the strength left to." He took a deep breath. "I… will give you, and Kakashi, and Tsunade… one last chance to fix the mess that the shinobi system has made of the world. … _Just_ _one_ _._ If you guys screw up again… I'm taking the hat from you and doing things _my_ way."

"…Fair enough. I guess that gives me extra incentive to make sure things go right from now on. Let's do this."

Sasuke nodded, pressing his left palm to Naruto's right. A deep 'pulse' of energy raced out, spreading across the entire world at lightning speed. As the Divine Tree's roots began to rapidly shrivel and break down, the 'pods' containing all the captive people lowered to the ground and came unraveled, the Infinite Tsukuyomi's hold on their minds dissolving away and returning them to reality. Many of them were in fact deposited nearby, slowly coming to… and being quite surprised to be amongst Tailed Beasts and _Kage_ ghosts.

Sasuke gasped softly as he felt power ebbing away from his left eye, returning it to its 'normal' Eternal Mangekyō state.

"The power I gifted to you has been used up for now" the Six-Paths Sage told him. "Your Rinnegan will 'properly' re-awaken at a later date, however." He then noticed a scroll containing… "Ah, I remember those things. …Oh, dear; someone's in there. Give me a moment…"

The Sage raised his staff and focused his power, and the sealing gourd released Samui and Atsui, the two of them stumbling to the ground, looking quite stunned and disoriented. He then turned to 'Group Naruto'.

"Though this world's battles are over for now," he told them, "I sense that your stories have not yet ended. …Sasuke, your fair cousin and her friends are, as we speak, embroiled in a rather large conflict of their own, and it will become even larger in scope in the future. They may soon need the help of all of you. …Go to the storehouse where Obito kept the eyes of fallen Uchiha; the eyes of her elder brother, slain by Nagato, are stored there. If you can bring them to her and perform the replacement, the Eternal Mangekyō will serve her well."

"Of course, sir" Kakashi nodded.

"S-So, um…" a Leaf shinobi asked Gyūki. "What's next for you guys?"

"WELL," the 8-Tailed Ox said, "WHEN I WAS RIPPED OUT OF BEE, I LEFT JUST ENOUGH OF MY CHAKRA BEHIND TO KEEP HIM ALIVE. I'M GONNA SEAL MYSELF BACK IN HIM; I'M PRETTY USED TO THE BIG LUG BY NOW."

"I GUESS I'LL GO BACK WITH NARUTO," Kurama said, "RE-MERGE WITH MY OTHER HALF THAT'S IN HIM NOW; I'LL FINALLY BE WHOLE AGAIN AFTER 17 YEARS!"

"THE REST OF US WILL GO OUR SEPARATE WAYS," Son Gokū said, "FIND SOME OUT-OF-THE-WAY PLACES TO SETTLE DOWN, MAYBE SEE THE WORLD… THOUGH IF WHAT THE OLD MAN SAYS IS TRUE, OUR POWER MIGHT BE NEEDED TO FIGHT SOME _OTHER_ GREAT EVIL BEFORE TOO LONG…"

"I… THINK, AFTER EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED, I WANNA BE GAARA'S PARTNER AGAIN" Shukaku admitted. "…ARE YOU OKAY WITH THAT?" he asked his now-conscious old partner.

Gaara looked surprised, but then he smiled and nodded. "I'd be honored."

Shukaku grinned. "HEHEH… YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT ON THAT! WHO WOULDN'T JUMP AT THE CHANCE TO HAVE THE HONOR OF BEING THE TRUSTED PARTNER OF MY MAGNIFICENT SELF?-!"

"Shukaku…"

"I'M KIDDING, I'M KIDDING… MOSTLY…"

"Now then," the Sage said, "one last thing before I go…"

The Six-Paths Sage floated over to where Might Guy laid, his body still blackened and slightly 'crumbled' from the aftereffects of the Eight-Gates Formation. The Sage brought his staff up, focusing what power his earth-bound spirit had left, and pointed it at Guy. A brilliant golden light enveloped the taijutsu master, and before everyone's eyes his wounds began to heal, his leg regenerating, his flesh de-'cooking' and bones mending. Before long, he was as good as new.

"Now, it is time for us to depart. I will bring the souls of the departed _Kage_ with me."

Hearing that, Naruto gasped and then immediately made his way to his _Edo Tensei_ father.

"Dad…"

Minato smiled. "Naruto…" He looked to the east as the Sun began to rise on a new day. "It's October 12th now. For the first time, I can finally say… Happy Birthday, my son. …You really have become truly amazing, Naruto. …Goodbye. I'll make sure to tell Kushina everything."

As the light of _Edo Tensei_ 's dispelling began to envelop Minato, whose artificial body started crumbling away, Naruto spoke up.

"Tell her I'm eating well and everything's okay! I'm not picky, either; if it's on the plate, I eat it! Mostly ramen, b-but not _only_ it… anymore. I also take a bath every day I get the chance; I even go to the hot springs sometimes! Even though everyone tells me I barely even spend enough time in there to get my feet wet! And I've made a whole bunch of friends! They're all awesome! And even though my grades kinda suck, I don't get depressed about it; I guess that's because of all this confidence I've got! But, of course, I've been listening to what the _Sandaime_ and Kakashi-sensei have told me. Also, about the three ninja taboos; I learned a lot when I was with Jiraiya-sensei! He sucked at avoiding those three things, but I still think he was super-cool and I respect him more than anyone else! Well, I don't really have any experience with women or alcohol yet! …And mom told me to find a girl who's like her, and… uh, well…

"A-Anyway! I haven't done everything she told me to do, but… I've been trying really hard to do it all! I have dreams and stuff, too! I'm gonna become a Hokage just like you, Dad! I promise! Make sure to tell mom… that she doesn't need to worry about me! I'm giving it my best!"

Now shed of his mortal form, Minato's spirit had a beaming smile. " _Got it_ " his voice echoed. " _I'll be sure to tell her everything…_ "

In multiple flashes of light, the spirits of all the deceased _Kage_ departed, guided by the Six-Paths Sage back to the afterlife. Naruto wiped away what little tears he'd shed, and gazed up at the sky.

Sasuke sighed, leaning against a boulder… and then a hand pinned him against it.

"You get _one chance_ , Uchiha" Sakura snarled at him. "If you _ever_ try to turn on us again, I'll _crush your skull like an egg_. …I don't wanna see or hear from you anymore after this. You are _dead_ to me."

She then 'lightly' kicked him hard enough to crack the boulder he was against, and stomped away. The now-recovered Tsunade stared in bewilderment.

"…What the fuck did I miss?"

 **-** _ **CHAPTER END**_ **-**

Next Time: an epic three-way Mock Battle between three of the DDF's biggest names!


	3. Clash of Heroes

And now, another Mock Battle, but quite a bit different from the last one.

Also, still no help with the _Sailor Nothing_ thing mentioned in Chapter 1's pre-chapter area?

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

 **-** _ **CHAPTER START**_ **-**

 **Realm LN-34 – Beacon System – Midchilda**

 **Near the site of Nanoha & Teana's epic battle in Book 9**

In a deserted, rocky area, a grand battle was about to take place. A huge and powerful 'magic-damage conversion' field was over the entire area, boosted to give extra strength. It would need that. No spectators were present in person, but magitech holo-screens would show the battle to those watching from kilometers away in real time. The reason for all this? A three-way mock battle between three of the most powerful, biggest names in the Dimensional Defense Force:

Nanoha Takamachi, Naruto Uzumaki, and Goku.

"I gotta say again how much I love this field magic" Goku said. "Being able to give it our all without having to worry about actually hurting each other? This is gonna be a _blast_! I can't wait to see what you two can do!"

Nanoha nodded. "Let's all see how much we've picked up on each other's techniques and styles."

"So, are we gonna have that 'Life Point' system for this?" Naruto asked.

"Nope!" Goku replied. "We just keep going until we can't go anymore! …Buuut there are a _few_ restrictions; Naruto, you can't use your Tailed Beast Form, while I can't use Super Saiyan 3."

Naruto sighed. "Fair enough. We don't wanna risk cracking the continent open or something."

Nanoha made a quick telepathic check, ensuring that the four Shadow Clones she'd discreetly dispatched earlier had taken up hidden positions along the outer edges of the battlefield, carrying out their intended task.

Suddenly, a chime sounded out, and a huge holographic " **5** " appeared in the air overhead. Right away the trio leapt back from each other, forming a rough triangle about 10 meters apart. The countdown progressed to 4… 3…. 2… 1… Then, as it hit '0', a buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the three-way battle.

In a flash of movement, Naruto made the first move. Goku quickly brought his arm up to block the youth's punch, and then both of them leapt back & away to narrowly dodge a heel-drop from Nanoha that left a sizable crack in the rocky ground where they'd just been. The young woman followed up with a mana blast that knocked Naruto back, and then quickly formed a Round Shield that visibly warped and strained from the force of Goku's kick. She leapt back to avoid his follow-up, and then both of them weaved or spun to the side to dodge a pair of _ki_ blasts from Naruto.

Nanoha took to the air, and the two males followed suit. The three of them moved in close, a three-way rapid-fire close combat engagement ensuing, a flurry of limbs striking and blocking. Finally, Nanoha hit Goku with a solid uppercut, only for her head to be rocked to the side by a right hook from Naruto, who in turn was then doubled over by a knee-strike from Goku. The trio got some distance, and each fired two _ki_ beams, arms aimed at different spots to aim at the other two. The six energy waves collided, struggling against each other for several seconds before being cut off.

Naruto charged at Nanoha, only for her to predict his attack and send him flying upward with her counter. She then turned and formed a Rasengan and thrusted it forward to collide with the one that Goku was thrusting toward her; Naruto had taught the technique to Teana who taught it to Nanoha, and later on he'd taught it to Goku directly. After several seconds of trying to overpower each other, pressing their spheres of chaotically spiraling chakra against each other, Goku & Nanoha had to break off and away to avoid Naruto coming in from above with a Rasengan in each hand, barely missing them. Before they could get too far away, Naruto made his twin spiraling chakra spheres 'detonate', two concentrated waves of rotating concussive force blasting Nanoha and Goku back.

Naruto hit Goku with a falling kick that sent him careening towards the ground, and then engaged Nanoha in another rapid exchange of blows. After several seconds of blocking and countering, the duo got a surprise in the form of a bright blue beam of _ki_ shooting up at them from below. Nanoha broke off from Naruto and formed the strongest Round Shield she could on such quick notice, and Naruto slid behind her to take advantage of it. The Kamehameha slammed into Nanoha's shield, and she gritted her teeth and groaned as she felt the strain. After several seconds the attack ended, revealing that her badly-damaged Round Shield had just barely been enough to block it. She and Naruto both breathed sighs of relief.

Goku flew up and rejoined the battle, striking with a kick that nearly broke Naruto's guard. The Saiyan then broke off and swayed to the side to dodge a dashing punch from Nanoha, who then bent over backward to avoid a swing from Naruto. Goku managed to hit Naruto with a point-blank _ki_ blast that sent the youth flying, but was then blindsided by an Accel Shooter strike from Nanoha that stunned him, giving the brunette time to get some distance, pulling her hands back. A few seconds later, Goku's eyes widened as his own signature technique was fired at him, and he crossed his arms in front as the Kamehameha hammered into him. After several seconds it cut off, and he took a breath as he felt it had done some damage. He looked back at Nanoha… only to see her already almost done charging a Divine Buster. Blue was followed by pink, as the sizable beam/wave of magical energy raced toward him. This time Goku couldn't block it, and he was engulfed by the beam and sent careening at an angle toward the ground.

Nanoha did not get much time to savor her little victory, as she had to start moving frantically to dodge a barrage of Wind-type magic projectiles; Naruto had started studying magic, and for his first significant magic technique he'd chosen a support spell to aid him against hard-to-hit opponents: the Vetus system spell ' _Sagitta Magica: Aer Capturae_ ' (or, as he liked to call it, "Wind Release: Gale Bind"). Nanoha realized/remembered that, in terms of elemental attacks, she was at a disadvantage; her affinities were Fire and Earth, but Naruto & Goku both had Wind, which had an advantage over the former, and the fact that the three of them were flying a few hundred feet in the air severely limited her capabilities with the latter. Thankfully, she managed to avoid Naruto's attempt to catch her in a Gale Bind (this time), and she also was able to bring Raising Heart up in time to block a flying punch from the youth. She grinned as she activated a contact Bind, holding Naruto in place, and then she blasted him with a 'Crossfire Wave' that sent him flying back a respectable distance.

Before Nanoha could shift focus, she cried out as a _ki_ blast hit her from her 5-o-clock, as Goku rejoined the battle. The man himself rushed in soon after, and Nanoha went on the defensive, dodging or blocking his attacks (which was no small feat, due to how skilled and experienced he was). She was about to launch her counterattack, when Naruto flew back into the zone, striking with an axe kick that forced Nanoha and Goku apart. Then, he grinned.

"Let's turn it up a couple notches…" he said.

Naruto's body then erupted in golden chakra that formed a coating over his body with thick black lines in various patterns, some of the _ki_ solidifying into a longcoat, while his eyes became a golden-orange color with slit pupils. Faced with Naruto's Stage-2 Tailed Beast Cloak, Nanoha decided it was time to use her own trump card. She focused her thoughts telepathically, and in response one of her waiting Shadow Clones dispelled, instantaneously transmitted all the Sage chakra it had drawn in and molded to her. Nanoha's energy aura flared around her, as the skin of and around her eyelids turned red while her eyes became yellow with horizontal rectangular pupils. Looking back & forth between Stage-2 _Bijū_ -Cloak Naruto and Sage Mode Nanoha, Goku grinned.

"Hm. Well alright, then…"

Then, the Saiyan was enveloped in golden light, as his hair stood on end and changed to a gold color, his eyes becoming pupiless teal, the surging fiery golden aura surrounding him accompanied by sporadic little sparks of blue electrical energy. With his Super Saiyan 2, Naruto's Stage-2 _Bijū_ -Cloak, and Nanoha's Sage Mode, the three of them were more or less equal in power level.

"Good thing we decided to have this fight way out here" Nanoha remarked. "Something tells me they might have to redraw the maps of this area just a little bit when this is done."

"Maybe" Naruto said with a grin. Then he 'punched' his arms forward, sending out a pair of three-foot-wide solid-chakra fists at Goku and Nanoha. Goku crossed his arms forward to block, while Nanoha used her now-enhanced reflexes to shift to the side and then sever the 'hand' at the end with a chop. Naruto pulled his chakra-limbs back (thankfully it was only the chakra-construct fist that was chopped off and not his actual hand), and then he was sent flying by a Force Push from Nanoha [AN: as I said back in Book 9, 'natural energy' is the Living Force present throughout existence and especially concentrated on/near any world with abundant life, and senjutsu users gain a few basic Force-type powers when using Sage Mode]. Nanoha then ducked to avoid a punch from Goku, but failed to dodge the following kick, and was sent tumbling through the air by the Ascended Super Saiyan's blow.

Goku then readied his defense as Naruto came charging in, blocking the youth's kick and countering with a left straight that was likewise blocked. The two golden warriors entered a rapid-fire exchange of blows, blocking and dodging and occasionally landing hits on each other. They were then forced to break apart to avoid a senjutsu-enhanced Divine Buster, and when they flew to either side the beam abruptly split into two and moved at almost 90-degree angles to head right at them. Goku let out a _kiai_ and a shockwave of power that blew away the one heading at him, while Naruto formed a Shadow Clone and had it throw him out of the way.

Nanoha went for Goku next, setting off a mutual barrage of blocked and countered blows. Finally, Goku made the mistake of dodging instead of blocking, tilting to the side to avoid a left straight punch… and getting hammered by Nanoha's invisible Sage aura, sending him hurtling through the air. After several meters, he regained control, a small smile on his face as he held a hand to one side of it.

"Right," he said, "forgot about that."

Goku then had to abruptly duck to avoid a Rasengan as Naruto came flying in at high speed. Naruto instantly dispelled the missed chakra sphere and went for an overhead double-fist blow, but Goku crossed an arm up to block the hit, and then the other slammed a quickly-formed Rasengan of his own, tinted gold by his Super Saiyan power, into Naruto's midsection, the youth crying out as he was sent spiraling back through the air. Then Goku was blindsided as Nanoha came in, slamming a Rasengan into his side and sending him tumbling. And _then_ , Nanoha cried out in surprise as an extending gold chakra arm hit _her_ with a Rasengan.

Naruto then began firing a barrage of _ki_ blasts at the other two. Goku's arms were a near-blur of motion as he batted the ones coming at him away, while Nanoha simply formed a senjutsu-enhanced Shield spell that protected her. Goku then used Instant Transmission to appear behind Naruto, landing a blow that sent Naruto flying toward Nanoha, who added her own strike to deal further damage and knock Naruto away in another direction. However, Naruto managed to swing one chakra-arm and hit Nanoha for a retaliating strike, and he also formed and threw a curveball _ki_ blast that nailed Goku.

There was a rapid buildup of chakra as Nanoha quickly weaved hand-seals, firing off a pair of _Gōkakyū_ in quick succession. Goku used a _ki_ blast to dispel the one coming at him, while Naruto crossed his arms in front and focused his chakra-shroud's 'density' forward to withstand the blast. Gritting his teeth, Naruto then charged at Nanoha, unleashing a flurry of blows that she was hard-pressed to defend against. He finished with a charged kick that broke her guard, sending her flying. When Goku tossed out a _ki_ -blast chaser, though, Nanoha flash-stepped to the side to dodge it.

Naruto and Goku flew in & out close to each other, intermittently either firing _ki_ blasts at each other or closing in and exchanging melee blows. About 20 seconds of this led into the two forming Rasengans and slamming them into each other, pushing and trying to overcome each other. They were so occupied trying to overpower each other like this that they were caught off-guard and engulfed by a senjutsu-enhanced Divine Buster; by the time the attack cut off and they regained control, they'd been pushed to only a couple meters above ground.

"Ow…" Naruto said in a deadpan tone. "We really sure about that 'non-lethal' stuff? 'Cause that hurt like hell."

'YOU'RE FINE, NARUTO' Kurama replied. 'THE PURPOSE OF NON-LETHAL MAGICAL DAMAGE IS TO DEFEAT A FOE THROUGH PAIN AND EXHAUSTION WITHOUT ACTUALLY _HARMING_ THEM. …THOUGH, IT _DID_ TAKE A CHUNK OF YOUR CURRENT CHAKRA RESERVES. TRY NOT TO TAKE TOO MANY MORE HEAVY ATTACKS LIKE THAT, OR YOU'LL RUN OUT OF USABLE CHAKRA AND HAVE TO DROP OUT OF THE FIGHT.'

Up above, Nanoha panted softly as she vented heat from Raising Heart. Her Sage Mode had come undone, the senjutsu chakra being exhausted, but she quickly had another of her distant Shadow Clones dispel itself, filling her with more natural energy and restoring her transformation. She then dived down at the two males, holding Raising Heart's Excelion Mode out front like a jousting spear. She dodged and weaved as she approach to avoid chakra blasts from Goku and Naruto, but then Naruto used _Fūton: Daitoppa_ to blow her back, stopping her charge. She quickly recovered, flash-stepping around and striking at Goku, landing a partially-blocked glancing blow with her staff. Naruto came in to join the fray, and he leapt back to avoid a kick from Nanoha… and was, of course, sent flying by the invisible Sage-aura strike.

Nanoha and Goku entered a fast-paced exchange of blows and close-range _ki_ blasts. Finally, Nanoha managed to follow a feint by grabbing hold of Goku's leg, spinning him around a few times and then sending him flying. Goku regained control just in time to avoid smacking into the returning Naruto, who was quick to engage the SS2 in another melee. The two landed simultaneous right crosses on each other's faces, and then tried & failed to grapple each other. Remembering what happened the last time they forgot about Nanoha, they briefly broke off from each other to look for her, just in time to narrowly avoid a barrage of bright pink Light-type _Sagitta Magica_ projectiles. The Sage Mode girl came flying in, and spun to avoid an energy blast from Goku that arced across the battlefield and demolished a rock formation. Nanoha winced; one of her senjutsu-gathering Shadow Clones had been hiding there, so she now had only one left out there.

Nanoha came in with a lightning-fast swing of her spear-from Device, which Goku bent over backwards to just barely avoid, and then she pulled it back to avoid it being kicked out of her hands by him. She was about to strike again when Naruto came at her, forcing her to go on the defensive to block or dodge his blows. Just when she started to worry that he'd break through, Goku came to the 'rescue', blasting Naruto back & away with a Rasengan. Nanoha used the opportunity to get some distance, firing more Accel Shooter bolts at her two opponents. Goku was caught off-guard and took quite a few hits, but Naruto managed to regain control and deflect or evade most of the ones coming at him.

Naruto returned fire with several blasts of chakra, scoring a few hits against the other two but not as many as he'd hoped. Nanoha charged in at him, managing to land a heavy blow to his midsection before he was able to get into the flow and block the rest of her following attacks. As Naruto started making his own attacks while blocking hers, she failed to notice as he substituted his actual left arm for a chakra construct while his _real_ arm was pulled back, charging and molding dense chakra. The only sign Nanoha got that something was wrong was when the 'arm' she blocked a hit from abruptly dissolved into golden fiery chakra, followed right after by a Super-Mini _Bijūdama_ striking her dead-center. The explosion kicked up a cloud of smoke, and after several seconds Nanoha was briefly seen flying up out of and away from it, apparently retreating for a higher altitude.

The moment Naruto came out of the smoke cloud from his technique, Goku was right there waiting. The two of them engaged in yet another fast-paced brawl, dealing and taking hits. It went on with no clear advantage for another half a minute, when suddenly the both of them were caught in a series of pink Binds, glowing bright with power. Realizing they'd been had, they both looked around, and their attention was caught by a shining pink light from up above. Nanoha was 'holding' a massive collection of magical energy in front of her staff-form Device; she had sacrificed her final senjutsu-gathering Shadow Clone for this, dispelling it and using its energy to greatly reduce the charging time of this attack. Naruto and Goku tried to break free, but the Sage-enhanced binds held strong. Nanoha allowed herself a small grin.

" _Senpō: Starlight Breaker!-!_ "

A magic-based attack enhanced by senjutsu power – which was a combination of ki/chakra and 'natural energy'/Force – meant that the attack contained all three 'primary' combat-energy sources known to the DDF. Thus, it packed a truly _tremendous_ amount of power, enough to knock a high-end Tailed Beast for a loop. The huge pink beam engulfed the two golden warriors completely, continuing on for several seconds and boring into the ground below.

When the attack faded, Nanoha hovered in place, panting for breath as her Device vented heat. When the smoke cleared away, she saw Naruto lying in the middle of a new crater, de-transformed and down for the count. Nanoha winced; the energy drain from firing an attack like that left her feeling borderline exhausted. She hoped that Goku was out of commission or close to it as well. …Where was he, come to think of it? He wasn't in the crater, or hovering where the beam had cut through, so-

Nanoha heard and sensed as a slight warping of space took place beside her. She turned her head just in time to see Goku – looking battered and weary, but still in SS2 form, having just come out of an Instant Transmission… with a Kamehameha charged and ready. There wasn't time to get out of the way.

The bright blue beam surged out, enveloping its target in destructive light. When it cut out, Goku hovered slightly unsteadily in place, panting as he powered down to Super Saiyan 1 from energy loss. After a few seconds, Nanoha dropped out of the sky, her Sage Mode disengaging. Goku quickly flew down, catching her, and brought her down to the ground safely, near Naruto.

"You win" she said in a voice strained by tiredness and soreness, a weak grin on her face.

"To be fair," Goku replied, "I almost didn't. If I hadn't partially broken your Bind spell at the last second and put most of what I had left into a barrier, you'd have scored a double-knockout and won the fight."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time…"

"Can we go back now?" Naruto asked, groaning as he sat up. "I'm sore all over, and I wanna eat…"

Goku chuckled as he returned to his base state. "Sure thing. Come on…"

He laid hands on the other two, and the three of them vanished in an Instant Transmission, to return back to Cranagan for recovery, rest, and the remote-viewing spectators' reactions.

 **-** _ **CHAPTER END**_ **-**

Next Time: I'll do my best to adapt (some of) RWBY Volume 2, since its events also take place during the 26-27 Time Skip. It'll probably be the last chapter of this Book (though you never know if an idea will pop into my head between now and _Legacy of the Void_ 's release…)


	4. Now It's Time To Say Goodbye

Well, this is it for Book 26.5 (unless I randomly come up with something later on). …I'm really, _really_ sorry I couldn't think of a way to adapt all of the events of RWBY Season 2 into DDF canon without seeming like I'm trying too hard to shoehorn people in and/or just writing down every last event of the show line-for-line. Unfortunately, scenes of DDF heroes participating in fending off the Grimm invasion of the city is all we'll get. I tried, but…

Side note: I almost had Madoka's new ability to use Drive Forms like Sora can debut here, but realized that would make a plot-hole (namely: why did she not use her Final Form like Sora did during Book 27's final battle), so I'm saving it for Book 31 or later.

Still no answers regarding the _Sailor Nothing_ thing mentioned in Chapter 1's pre-chapter area?

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

 **-** _ **CHAPTER START**_ **-**

 **Realm R38Y**

Ex-Freelancer Agent Washington let out a deep, slow breath as he sat atop a wall in Beacon Academy, his helmet off so he could directly experience the cool morning air. He was one of several DDF personnel stationed in the area in the wake of a few concerning local events: the gangster Roman Torchwick somehow getting hold of a prototype combat mech and getting into a highway battle against Team RWBY (who managed to destroy the 'Paladin'), and Beacon's radio tower being infiltrated by an unknown masked woman with an uncommon degree of combat skill, managing to easily fend off Ruby and make an escape.

Presently, most of the student teams were participating in a 'special assignment' where they would be led by an experienced Hunter/teacher out into the wilds; of the two teams who participated directly with DDF-related matters, Team RWBY had left yesterday evening, while Team JNPR was set to depart this morning. Things were a bit slow, as a few more teams were making ready to depart. Wash hopped down off the wall, helmet held underhand; perhaps he'd join the Headmaster for some coffee…

But then, alarm klaxons began to blare, from the academy and from the city nearby. Having been briefed, Wash remembered what that particular alarm meant: Grimm inside the city. Cursing, he donned his helmet and took off running, heading for where one of the DDF's Pelicans was parked, hoping the others stationed at the academy would be there to meet him.

 **-** _ **Break**_ **-**

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang stood back to back atop the square-shaped stage in the middle of the town square, surrounded by a _horde_ of Grimm of all shapes  & sizes that had emerged from – and were _still_ emerging from – the massive hole that had been blown in the city street by the deliberately-runaway train controlled by Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. The apparent leader of this batch of Grimm – a particularly huge King Taijitu – leered down at the girls. The gigantic black snake-type Grimm let out a commanding roar, and the swarm of black beasts charged.

Ruby leapt into the fray, landing amongst a pack of 'young' Beowolves and planting the blade of Crescent Rose in the ground; she used this as a base as she spun around, dealing Aura-enhanced kicks to the Grimm as they tried to come at her. Yang flipped over a charging Creep, blasting it in the head from above with a precision Ember Celica shot. She then leapt back and away to avoid a trio of charging Beowolves, firing a few shots to kill one and injure the others. However, a pair of Nevermores attacked from behind, slamming her to the ground. Blake decapitated a Beowolf and then used her pistol to gun down a pack of charging Creeps, while Weiss used her Myrtenaster to impale another Beowolf through the skull and then formed a huge ice blade and, with a single swing, wiped out another pack of Creeps.

Yang turned a parked car into a high-velocity projectile, flattening a quartet of Beowolves, and when another tried to bite her hand, its teeth were stopped by her gauntlet, and she fired a shot within its mouth that blew out the back of its skull. Ruby bisected a Creep lengthwise, but then she turned to see the massive King Taijitu looking down at her, preparing to strike. What's more, as the King Taijitu was a unique type of Grimm with two separate creatures conjoined, the white-scaled giant snake at the other end also emerged from the hole, both massive serpents looming over the petite girl.

Suddenly, someone leapt down from atop the tall building behind the monster(s), landing on the black Grimm-snake's head. Kanba Kanade dug his four vectors into the armored scales on the top of the Grimm's head, and then summoned his Keyblade, focusing magical power into it, and stabbed it downward, piercing the monster's skull. As it fell, he leapt off of it, landing beside Ruby and preparing to deal with the other one. He didn't get the chance, however; a Pelican dropship flew into the area, its chin-mounted gun shredding a pack of Beowolves before it then spun around to turn its troop bay to face the action. Inside were Wash, Tiida, Jack from 'Team Shepard' (on a week's break from her new job at Grissom Academy), Link the Hero of Twilight, and Team JNPR.

Nora launched herself out first, propelling herself with her hammer / grenade launcher. She turned her momentum into a skull-cracking strike, killing the white-scaled giant snake. Everyone else then leapt out of the Pelican and got to work. When Jack landed amongst a pack of Creeps, she used her Biotics to transfer the energy of her fall into a shockwave that blew them all away. Link and Jaune landed between a pair of Ursas, and Link used a Shield Bash/Helm-Splitter combo to take down one while Jaune used a Spin Attack (recently taught to him) to stun the other and followed with a jumping decapitating strike.

Pyrrha and Ren worked together, using her spear and his SMGs' blades to carve through Creeps and Beowolves. Nora, meanwhile, was riding an Ursa like in a rodeo, using its wild paw swings to take out lesser Grimm. Washington was being considerably less showy, using precision BR85 fire to take out Creeps and Beowolves, as well as a frag grenade to wipe out a charging Boarbatusk. An Ursa tried to get behind the ex-Freelancer, only for a glowing red directed-energy shot to punch through its head, causing its body to rapidly disintegrate into orange particles. Tiida reloaded the Promethean Binary Rifle he was carrying (he was one of the few people given a weapon scavenged from the Al-Hazred debacle for keeps), and then used a Crossfire Shot barrage to take out a pair of Boarbatusks and a Creep.

A few more DDF members who'd been present in the city arrived on the scene. Kizuna Kawamura used an Earth Release technique to off-balance a pack of Beowolves, and then a _Gōkakyū_ and a Fire-type _Sagitta Magica_ strike to wipe them all out. Ruby and Kanba were nearby, gun-scythe and Keyblade working together to take down more Beowolves. Meanwhile, Link used his ball-&-chain to stun and injure an Ursa Alpha, letting Yang finish it with a double-blast from her gauntlets, while Pyrrha and Jaune worked together to cut down a Creep pack, and Ren worked with Blade to handle a Beowolf Alpha.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over the area as an Atlesian sky-carrier flew overhead, along with a small fleet of VTOL craft. The nearest craft opened fire with its minigun, cutting down a pair of Ursas, and then the VTOLs all opened their rear hatches, dispatching a few dozen white-armored battle droids armed with heavy rifles. The droids began opening fire on the Grimm; their weapons didn't do as much damage as those of the Hunters and DDF personnel, but they seemingly made up for quality with quantity, starting to gradually thin the Grimm's numbers further.

"Uh, carrot-top? A little help here!"

Tiida looked up from the Ursa Alpha he was finishing off to see Jack, her fists glowing with Biotic power as she slowly stepped backward, staring down the pair of Death-Stalkers advancing on her. Just as one of them started pulling its stinger back in preparation to strike, Tiida leapt in while forming a Stage-2 _Susanō_ , the spectral summon's huge energy blade chopping the giant scorpion's tail off. He then speared the monster through the head with it, and then brought the blade down to kill the second Death-Stalker before it could escape. Then, he formed his _Susanō_ 's crossbow and shot down a Giant Nevermore flying overhead.

Near the breach, a damaged Paladin mech emerged, piloted by Professor Oobleck. Zwei – Ruby & Yang's intelligent, Aura-using corgi dog – leapt out from behind it and headbutted a Beowolf hard enough to knock the beast back. The little dog's attention was then drawn to a Beacon VTOL coming in, taking position over the main square. Professor Port and the four members of Team CFVY leapt out, and immediately started carving through Grimm. The giant known as Yatsuhashi swung his massive sword downward, and the force shattered the pavement around him for several meters and blew several Beowolves and Creeps away. The red-haired, dark-skinned young man Fox was next, using his forearm-mounted blades to shred a few Beowolves and then an Aura Strike against a massive Ursa Alpha that sent the beast tumbling back and then made it explode, its bone-spike armor becoming a storm of lethal shrapnel that shredded the lesser Grimm around it. Velvet, the rabbit Faunus, used chops and kicks of surprising power to put the cannon fodder down, while the team leader Coco calmly dispatched a Beowolf Alpha and then unfolded her purse into a minigun, using it to obliterate a Death Stalker and two Giant Nevermores.

Wash grouped up with Oobleck and Porter, the three men using precision shots to take out a charging pack of Beowolves and Ursas. Meanwhile, Glynda stomped her way through the battlefield, looking very annoyed and cross as she dispatched a pair of Ursas without even looking. She focused her energies and pointed her riding-crop/wand, and the earth rumbled as the scattered rubble from where the tunnel breach had been blown floated up into the air and over to the hole while reassembling. After only a handful of seconds, the entire section of street was repaired as if it had never been damaged, cutting off any further Grimm from entering the battle.

The heroes continued mopping up the remaining Grimm. Kanba used a Sonic Blade strike to take out three close-together Boarbatusks at once, while Kizuna used _Yōton: Yōkai_ to engulf and vaporize a Beowolf Alpha. Jack caught four Creeps with a Singularity, and then used a Warp to explosively destabilize the core of Biotic energy, ripping the dark creatures apart. Link let an Ursa get close, and then used a Mortal Draw to dispatch it in an instant. An Ursa Alpha trying to get behind Blake was decapitated by a swing of Yatsuhashi's greatsword, and a 'small' Nevermore that tried to swoop down on him was blown away by a grenade from Nora. Jaune used the edge of his shield to slash a Beowolf's throat, and then spun and split a Creep's head open with his sword. Wash hung back, using his battle rifle to pick off targets of opportunity, even managing to shoot out a Death-Stalker's eyes so Yang and Porter could bring it down more easily. And all the while, the Atlesian battle-droids pitched in as well.

With their avenues of reinforcement and retreat cut off, it did not take long for the remaining Grimm to be picked off.

 **-** _ **Break**_ **-**

Wash stood guard, rifle shouldered, as Sun and Neptune marched a handcuffed Roman Torchwick – found unconscious by the two of them in the main car of the train that had made the breach – into a waiting Atlesian VTOL. The old soldier let out a breath as he looked around. All said, it had been a fairly major breach; it was just luck that so many high-level combatants were in the immediate area to take on the Grimm while keeping their attention off the civilians. He had little doubt civilian casualties would've been severe had all the heavy-hitters not been at the right place at the right time.

Personally, Wash was a little worried. How had the White Fang gotten hold of the resources to pull this off? Why would they deliberately open a hole for Grimm to pour into Vale? And was this their whole plan, or just one step of it? Torchwick braggingly said that it was all his idea, but Wash doubted it; he had a gut feeling, telling him that the stylish gangster wasn't the top of this particular totem pole…

Another worry was how the nation's leadership would react. Ozpin was a major player in the security of the region; how would this reflect on him, that a terrorist group had managed to force open a breach and bring about a major Grimm incursion on his watch?

Wash shook his head. He was going to need to interview Professor Oobleck and Team RWBY, get their sides of the story, learn what they'd seen down there, and then report it to the DDF's higher-ups to see if they could come up with anything. Of course, given that preparations for the Reapers were in full swing, he doubted they could spare much time or resources to handling Remnant's current problems. He just hoped that the tournament coming up in a couple months didn't become the setting for another debacle like this. All they could do was wait and see…

 **-** _ **BOOK 26.5 END**_ **-**

Again, sorry I couldn't make more. Anyway, that's it for now! I'll see you all after _Legacy of the Void_ comes out (unless I randomly come up with any other ideas for this Book before then).


End file.
